header info

To see what jewelry creations are currently available Click here!

Monday, August 10, 2009

Hockey, Coffee, Jewelry, Searching on eBay, Etsy, and ArtFire

Hockey

It was fun watching Gabe play hockey yesterday, even though it was a scrimmage and not a game. I'm afraid I'll probably miss a lot of his games this year (like last year) because I won't be going to all his CAHA weekends or all his tournaments… but we'll see.

I still haven't heard anything from Mon's girls' team, but the BlackHawks are all geared up and ready to go (practices start next Monday).

I've started to video tape the kids so they can watch/review their own performances. It looks like, however, both their new teams will be doing video review as part of their regular curriculum. I'm very happy about that.


Really Important Coffee

I blew off a couple hours of work Sunday to meet a friend for coffee. I highly recommend this type of thing. My work will never be done or caught up, and I don't intend to set all the important things in life aside until my work is done… (you see, you miss out on life that way).

I was very relaxed the whole rest of the day.


Jewelry

Here are small pix of what I have up this week. I think all but the two green necklaces are now up (they'll go up tonight). You can click anywhere on the picture to go to the website listings.



Monica made a GORGEOUS necklace this weekend, but it won't go up until next week. I think I'll work on earrings this week… and bronze items.


Metal Clay

I posted the latest pictures of my metal clay projects on my Going Green Jewelry blog.


Blogs I Like to Visit

Don't know if you've ever scrolled down far enough to read the list of "Blogs I Like to Visit" over there on the right. If you have any recommendations for me, let me know!


Comments

mclainjewelry said... I saw this photo and thought of your dream! LOL

http://2photo.ru/uploads/posts/4268/20071130/chiara_bautista/30_11_2007_0362419001196371210_chiara_bautista.jpg


Oh wow… that is one freaky (but intriguing) picture.


mclainjewelry also said...Me again ... you know I do not sleep in anything resembling a normal mode, so I am frequently up at 1 or 2 am and while I wake up and get the cogs turning I frequently log on and surf. For some reason I was jonesing to see some lampwork and I plopped over on Artfire and searched on that term. Well I was pleased with the results and the accurate search return. It seems when I go on some other sites like Etsy I get several other not-so-related items per one accurate in a search. So Artfire just regained a notch in recognition for me.

I keep glancing back at those long textured tube earrings, Laura... are the cylinders some of your recent explorations into art clay (bronze, brass,??) They really pop.. I keep looking on your web hoping to read more about them in a listing !

I also did not comment on your turquoise information... and I should have! I love turquoise of any type... even fake (er excuse me FAUX) turquoise. I am not a stone snob .. if it is pretty I don't care if I found it on a beach for free... value to me is in the art of it. I have used all of the above turquoise types and all of them sell well. I also will publicly confess here that I have a hoard - bin of turquoise I will never live long enough to use in jewelry. Some day I will de-stash a bit on Etsy, just to feel less guilty about it, but in the mean time I will be a turquoise Midas feasting my eyes on the variety... all gorgeous!



So… you don't sleep straight through the night? I mean, your "8 hours of sleep" is broken up into segments?

Glad to hear ArtFire regained some Brownie points when it comes to searching. Just for the heck of it, today I re-did a search I tried many months ago. I'm looking for a handmade backpack. I went to Etsy first. I type in "backpack" in the search field. Ugh! WAY too many people are using "backpack" as a tag for their item. What a stretch. So then I do it by category listings. I go right to the BACKPACK category… and still see… NO FREAKIN' BACKPACKS. Why am I seeing purses in the backpack category? No way am I shopping here!

Hey people… if you're selling a tote, but it in the TOTE category. If you're selling a purse, put it in the PURSE category. If you're selling a messenger bag, put it in the MESSENGER BAG category.

ARGH! But I hold Etsy to blame too, if not even moreso. If they have so many customers under their belt, then they have enough money to hire people to take care of this kind of thing.

Now let's see what happens at eBay. Since eBay doesn't claim to be an online venue for handmade items, I put that word in the search… "handmade backpack". Surprisingly, I see many that fit what I'm looking for.

Okay, now let's try ArtFire. First, a general search of the site on the term "backpack". Meh. Yes, I see backpacks, but you can't really tell what some of the thumbnails are pictures of people the new thing (I think this started with Etsy) is to take an "artsy", angled shot showing a mere one-tenth of whatever product it is you're trying to sell. Ugh! Let me know see if they have a category dedicated to backpacks… and if so, what's in it.

There. Much better. The overwhelming majority of thumbnails seem like genuine handmade backpacks.

Etsy, what is wrong with you?

Now, about the earrings. Yes, they are/were bronze metal clay. I'll show you all the pictures… they sold within five minutes of me listing them. Yay!



But wow... I just had no idea about you and Turquoise. That is very useful information. :-)

No comments:

Post a Comment