Coring a Bead, Ninja Cat, MRI's Show Signs of Awareness in Vegetative Patients, Fringe or Lost

Coring a Bead

There is a very generous and totally awesome video online showing how to core a bead with metal tubing.

Click here for video tutorial.

Now, speaking of dapping blocks and punches… if you can't yet afford a very high quality set but still want to get started with something, I'd like to pass along what I feel is a really good deal.

25 Piece Doming Block and Punch Set



I would try it myself, but I have to order some silver tubing first. And I think I'll wait for that until I get back from Chicago.


Ninja Cat

I know I've shown you this before, but I love it. :-)

Ninja cat comes closer while not moving!




Vegetative Patients Show Brain Activity, Awareness

Interesting new story in the news this week.

It all started in 2006, when researchers were studying a young woman considered to be in a vegetative state. Using MRI to scan her brain, they asked her to imagine herself playing tennis and touring her own home, and found that her brain behaved in much the way a normally functioning brain does.

The neuroscientists were shocked into action as news of what may have only been an anomaly prompted families to ask that the researchers study their own loved ones, too.

One of the neuroscientists, Adrian Owen at the University of Cambridge, alongside colleagues at the University of Liege in Belgium, have just published the results of their initial research on 54 patients--23 thought to be in vegetative states and 31 to be minimally conscious--in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

While the majority of the patients exhibited no brain activity via MRI scans, four considered to be in vegetative states did and one thought to be minimally conscious did. Three of these five patients actually showed signs of awareness during intensive standard bedside tests, while two did not.

Moreover one of the patients, a 29-year-old in Belgium asked to answer questions indicating "yes" by thinking about tennis and "no" by mentally touring his own home, answered every single question about his life--from his father's name to whether he had siblings--correctly.

"He could produce no communication with his body, but he could systematically and repeatedly change his brain activity to indicate 'yes' or 'no' with 100 percent accuracy," Owen says. "These are patients who are totally unable to perform functions with their bodies--even blink an eye or move an eyebrow--but yet are entirely conscious. It's quite distressing, really, to realize this."…


Fringe

Anyone watch this? I've been looking for a new show to add to my MP3 player for those times when I'm away from home and killing time.

A couple years ago I was watching the LOST series this way, but I started getting rather "lost" somewhere around season 5. Then I thought, maybe I could just read the episode recaps and get caught up and have things make sense… but they didn't. Or not enough to interest me, anyway. Sigh.

Jewelry Pricing Calculator Version 3, More Discussion about Pricing, Etsy Tagging and Categories, Webpage Copying, Paper Art

I’m pretty happy today. Well, okay, I’m pretty happy MOST days… but I’m particularly happy today because I finalized the third version of my jewelry pricing calculator.

Now… not only did I redo certain aspects of it, I’m going to try REALLY hard to actually stick to it myself. I went through my current items recently and had to raise some prices as well as lower some prices.

I can’t go into pricing with the idea of: “How much would I pay for that piece if I wanted it?” Maybe I can’t afford every piece I want. There’s no shame in that. But there is much shame in me selling my jewelry for the mere cost of the materials used in it.

I love Lampwork. I buy some really decent Lampwork from some amazing artists. I have to come to terms with the fact that that will significantly raise the price of an item I make with that Lampwork.

Not everyone can (or wants to) buy a necklace for $200… but if the lampwork beads cost me $100 and I take those beads, add gemstones and silver to them, spend time creating a design and then use my years of experience to craft a quality necklace… why on earth would I charge $100 for it?! That’s not even including the time to photograph and list as well as listing and selling fees. Eek!

We (jewelry makers) need to value our work more. We need more confidence. We need to not even THINK about competing with lower quality and/or mass produced jewelry because WE ARE NOT.

If you make it, they will come.

They, being the people who want quality. Who appreciate what you do. Who will realize your quality and continue to visit your shop year after year.

Oh, speaking of customers… Oh heavens, I have the absolute best customers on earth! On more than one occasion, I’ve been brought to tears (or at least VERY moist eyes) because of a nice email. I truly, truly appreciate each and every customer and their wonderful personalities.

Alright… enough schmaltz for one night.

I’m watching the Sharks right now… they’re up 2-1.

I made a couple pair of earrings last night and a necklace. I’ll probably do s’more beadwork (meaning not involved art clay or enameling, etc) tonight… then I can photo tomorrow or Saturday.

Oh, back to jewelry pricing for a second… the other day I ran across something that stunned me. And this is PRECISELY NOT how I intend for us to price our work decently.

It was a listing for a base-metal charm on a base-metal chain. This is the same charm that I purchased during a BABE class… it was like $1 or something. We colored the charm with various methods. The one in the listing was nekkid… just the exact charm as you buy it from the bead shop.

So anyway… I am not into taking a $1 something and putting it on a maybe $2 something… total work involved is maybe 30 seconds… and then selling this piece for $30.

Yeah, it’s an easy way to make money but is there any satisfaction in it?

Which makes me understand that I am not doing this for money (although I’m not doing it for free either). But I am doing it (making jewelry) for some kind of creative outlet reason. Make any sense?

So this isn’t really a big rant… more of an observation of what I do and do not want to do within my business.

But I guess that’s what building a business is. Trying things… and learning what works for you as an artist and as a business person.


I LOVE THIS RING

Click here to see. I don’t (usually) hotlink photos of jewelry for sale without permission.


ETSY… really?

Wanna see something funny?

Guidelines & Tips: Tagging on Etsy

Don't pick any words that are related, but not what it is. Don't tag a tote bag with "clutch", even though you can clutch it in your hand. Don't tag anything but a dress with dress. Eg. Don't tag cookies with "tea" or "coffee", even though you can eat them with these drinks.

Don't tag with potential uses for the item. Don't use "stocking stuffer" or "gift" as tags. Do not tag a messenger bag with "backpack", even though you can wear it on your back. Don't tag a blank book with "poetry".

Yeah… well, maybe I’d care more if I had ANY indication that Etsy does jack when an item is reported for improper tagging.

Now, tags aside, what’s up with categories? Go to BUY, CATEGORIES, JEWELRY, EARRINGS, METALWORK… and then tell me what you see? ‘Cause what I see is 21 listings as such:
1-Earrings, beads
2-Earrings, resin
3-Earrings, beads
4-Earrings, metalwork
5-Ring
6-Ring
7-Earrings, metalwork
8-Earrings, metalwork
9- Earrings, metalwork
10-Earrings, mass produced charms
11-Necklace
12-Earrings, beads
13-Earrings, beads
14-Earrings, resin
15-Earrings, metalwork
16- Earrings, metalwork
17- Earrings, metalwork
18- Earrings, metalwork
19-Earrings, stones
20- Earrings, metalwork
21- Earrings, metalwork

So 10 out of 21 listings in the metalwork earrings category were indeed metalwork earrings. I’ve seen worse, but if YOU were a selling site would YOU be happy/satisfied knowing less than half your items are categorized incorrectly?

Oh and I’ve applied to over half a dozen Etsy street teams and I have gotten not ONE SINGLE response (last one I contacted was over two weeks ago). So these street teams I applied to are either dead or extremely rude. I don’t mind being rejected, but at least do me the courtesy of acknowledging my initial inquiry/contact to you.

However, Etsy is still much more beautiful and more maneuverable than ArtFire. It’s also less expensive than RubyLane.

I just hate to see the sloppiness that we’ve come to expect with eBay. Etsy was supposed to be so much more.


Paper Art

Have you seen these? Very cool.

Pricing Your Jewelry, Thoughts on Artisan Jewelry, New Jewelry

The Never-Ending Pricing Discussion

So… I've decided to try to practice what I preach (as far as pricing goes).

I'm a big advocate of artisans (don't get wiggie about semantics… I use "artisans" as a catch-all term to represent any of us who create things with our hands) getting a fair price for their wares.

I have often treated myself as a "hobbyist". Not that there's anything wrong with hobbyists (other than the fact they may be inadvertently undercutting the market, but that's not something I have a discussion about right now anyway).

BUT… we (btw, when I say "we" I am referring to Monica and me) don't make jewelry as a hobby… 100% for our own pleasure.

Although we THOROUGHLY enjoy making jewelry, we do need to make a profit from it.

So, back to the formulas with the materials costs and the overhead and the labor costs, etc.

Yeah, what I mean is I have to head back to my own pricing calculator. Ha ha ha!

I'm going to put prices fair to us (not outrageously in our favor by any means… merely fair to us as in we can cover our business expenses and make a small profit).

But there's something else… (this is also a change in version 3 of the pricing calculator… which I'm sending out free to all previous owners of it).

We have some of our work in a boutique and at an online consignment venue. When one sells at these types of places (also galleries), one must make sure NOT to undercut those selling venues.

If I sold a necklace to a gallery for at a wholesale price of $100 and they list it for $200 (standard formula), I can't sell that same design in my store for $150. It would piss off the gallery to know I'm undercutting them… and it would piss off any customer who bought from the gallery and then sees the same thing cheaper somewhere else.

So, as a business person, it is my responsibility to not undercut my own products (if I want to keep selling in galleries and boutiques, that is).

At first, I had a smidge of a problem thinking about the fact that if I sell to a gallery or boutique, I sell it for my wholesale price… but if I'm NOT selling to a gallery or boutique… if I'm keeping a piece to try to sell by myself, I want something closer to my retail price. That just seemed like too much discrepancy in price. It seemed odd in light of the fact that retail is pretty much twice the wholesale price.

But then I realized all the things I have to do if I retail my own pieces, versus what I don't have to do if I wholesale a piece.

Basically wholesale is the bottom price you would or could sell a piece for. It's like materials cost plus labor plus overhead plus profit (I use a pretty small profit calculation). BUT… if that's all you did… make the piece… then it makes sense that you could sell it for wholesale and continue to make profit.

However, if after you make the piece, you spend time photographing it, writing up a description, listing it online, taking it to shows, etc… all that stuff costs money (don't forget that time is also money). Sometimes a LOT of money.

So yeah, you'd better be getting the full retail price if you're doing all that.

If, however, you are basically having someone else sell the piece for you, then it's kind of like you're paying them for their time, their shop space, their marketing, etc.

Okay, that's all I had to say on that subject for the moment. Just… get serious about not underselling yourself.


About Creating

One of the other things I was musing about this past weekend had to do with the process of creating art (shall I say "art' or shall I say "things?).

I don't like being an extremist, but I think on this one I'm leaning pretty far in one direction. I can't say yet WHY… but I can say I'm following my intuition.

When you buy something (okay, fine… I'm going to use the word "art"… we are not open to discussion about the semantic use of that word in this blog), you may first be attracted to it based on your immediate reaction to its design. After that, I've noticed that I have another sense (intuition or snobbery, you be the judge) that tells me how I "feel" about the piece.

I see a lot of costume jewelry in department stores that looks really cool (design-wise, color-wise, etc) at first (and distant) glance. But upon closer inspection the pieces look like carp. Poorly made (aka will fall apart before too long), imitation-looking, glass rather than crystal, plastic rather than gems… stuff like that.

It just doesn't make me happy. I want to wear jewelry that makes me happy. So aside from quality materials, I want quality craftsmanship. And taking it even one step further, I want as much of the piece to have been made by hands… real hands… hands touching the beads, metals, etc.

I don't know if there's a vibrational difference or if it's all in my head, but I will always opt for a handmade anything over a perfectly formed machine-made something.

Just to know that someone took the time to file the edges, buff the metals, shape the beads, etc.... that's something that really appeals to me.

I also try to choose my own jewelry tools wisely. I've see quite a few ads recently for machines that do things as shortcuts to the jewelry-making process. Now, I'm not saying I want to use sharpened stones to do all my work, but I also don't want a machine that will form a clasp for me.

Know what I mean?

So… since I want to BUY jewelry and beads from people who had a lot of personal, physical input into what they made… it stands to reason that that's the kind of jewelry I'd want to be MAKING too.

I've always had great fortune with my customer base and I think I will continue to attract the kinds of people who, like me, want jewelry made by hands. Happy hands. :-)


Opal… MMMmmm…

BTW, I'm distracted by a ring I'm wearing today. It's one I'm borrowing from my mom… it's five bands of gold with small 2-3mm gemstones on each band. The center stone is an Opal and there's a sliver of sun shining right on it and wow… it's just so amazing, sparkly and colorful. VERY different from all the fake Opal I see on a monthly basis.


New Jewelry

We listed a few things recently…

Sunrise Colors One of a Kind Enamel Sections Copper Bracelet Upcycled



Purple Swarovski Crystals and Cultured Pearls in Loaded Sterling Silver Charm Bracelet



Understated Sterling Silver Bangle Wire-Wrapped with Tiny Lapis, Agate, and Carnelian Beads



That's it for now. Hope to have some new items to show you after the weekend.



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If it's Tuesday, this must be Belgium...

Actually, it's still Oakland. It's just one of those dreadful Tuesdays when the kids both have practice but in completely different cities. Ugh! We're also picking up one of Mon's teammates so it's gonna be a TIGHT squeeze.

So although I won't be blogging tonight, there is a light at the end of this tunnel. Tomorrow after work... NOTHING!!! Whoohoo!!! I get to come home and stay home. Yay!

Well, I did agree to take Gabe to UC Berkeley and pick him up again after class, but that's not a big deal... comparatively speaking.

So... please stay tuned. We have much to discuss. Creation, pricing, stuff that I can't articlate at the moment. :-)

Almost there...

It's 9pm and I just got home (after work I went to get Bear, treated his babysitter to dinner, then picked up Gabe from UC Berkeley... figured that was the least I could do after his dad dropped him off there one and a half hours before his class).

I'm not really home, though... well, not for good. Going to pick Mon up soon from her practice.

It'll be late-ish when we finally get home and I will need to go straight to bed... so no decent blogging until tomorrow.

But thanks for hanging in there. :-)


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