Out of Africa

Out of Africa

4 strands at rest and not twisted together.

Not too long ago I created this multi strand necklace and have debated about exactly what to do with it. It is a beautiful piece created around a precious strand of African tribal beads. These beads had been purchased by someone I knew who had lived a few years in Angola, Africa and it was there that she came across these lovely, handmade beads.

Lucky her, she managed to obtain several strands from the village chieftain.

 

This particular village was primitive and did not have resources such as fancy, electric kilns, or even work tables upon which the bead artisans could craft their beads. Instead of a well equipped studio, these crafters either sat outside on the ground or they sat on the earthen floors of their huts while they worked creating their beads. Their kilns were crude brick ovens fueled by wood fires.

Making beads or a number of other handcrafted items provided an income for the villagers and afforded them a standard of living that provided them with life's basics;  food, clothing and shelter and perhaps not a whole lot more.

Holy - Moly there's a lot of 14 k gold filled saucers beads !

When my friend offered to sell me a strand or two of these marvelous beads, I jumped at the opportunity even though I had not the slightest idea just what I would do with them.  It was months later that I happen to mix them up with some lovely ivory colored freshwater pearls and some 14 k gold filled beads that I realized it was a winning combination.   So if one strand of this combination would be a winner, what would 4 strands be?  A  Jackpot !

Above photo shows the 4 strands twisted together.

 Since the African beads are a lovely rusty red, I decided what better to compliment them than rich, Red Jasper.  And so it was that I used red jasper to create links at the back of the necklace and fashioned an "S" hook clasp using a large Red Jasper bead and  gold filled wire.

Photo above shows the 6 and 8 mm Red Jasper beads and my handmade "S" clasp.

Okay, so what's the problem?  Well, I was more involved with creating a piece of art than something that would fit into my  usual line of jewelry and went out of my ball park on price points.  

The "Out of Africa" necklace contains:

·         2 strands freshwater ivory pearls 

·         1  1/2 strands  of those precious African beads

·         6 feet  of 49 strand, super flexible, beading cable 

·          2  gem grade, Red Jasper 6 mm beads

·          3  gem grade, Red Jasper 8mm beads

·         18  gauge 12 k gold filled wire

·         20 gauge 14 k gold filled wire

·         8 crimp tube beads in 14 k gold fill

·         8   jumprings in 14 k gold fill

And an incredible 162 ,  14 k gold filled 4.7 mm saucer beads. !!!   These beads cost a small fortune and if you look them up you'll find:

·         Fire Mt. Gems' best price (the 200+ level) is 62 cents apiece (.62 x 162 = $100.44 without the $5 S and H fees)

·         Artbead's best price  (for 40+ beads) is 72 cents each (72 x 162 = $121.50)

And so there is my problem.  With so much vested in materials I'm really hesitant to list it on etsy where many shoppers are looking for handcrafted bargains instead of handcrafted future heirlooms.  A part of me says; "Forget it, you'll be wasting your time and 20 cents".  However a big part of me says; "Hey, what the heck!  For 20 cents go ahead and list it, the worse that can happen is that nobody buys it".

I really like the way the choker looks with the clasp worn at the side of the neck.



I would love to hear any experience that you may have had listing something that you thought might frighten a customer away from it. . . or perhaps having something sell that you thought would never stand a chance. . .or how about those things you thought were fantastic but for some reason just never attracted the right person.   Or have you ever made something and then figured out the cost (like I did) and was floored by how much went into materials ?

 

Clicking My Needles

 

Photo above - my handmade felt "Welcome Bear" goes up on my front door ever Christmas.

Okay, blogger is going to give me headaches so guess I'll just have to work around it until they find and fix the problem (or until I pick up a new browser such as Firefox).   I have uploaded photos from my PC to Picasa Web Albums and then I've uploaded them from there to here. Sort of like going around the block twice to get to your next door neighbor's house. :D

Christmas was an enjoyable time at our house as Wendi, our daughter in New York, came down and spent a couple of weeks with us. It was wonderful to have her here and I hated to see her go. I also did not have to worry about filling Christmas orders from my etsy shop Almost Precious as for the months of Nov - Dec  I only had one order for each month, both were for a pair of my Christmas earrings.

Photo of Candy Cane beaded earrings sold on Nov. 11th 2012

 

Can't say as I was swamped with business, LOL, but at least it allowed me to enjoy time with Wendi. 

Photo above of Holly Berries earrings sold the week before Christmas 2012

Also on a joyful note, the person who purchased the lovely Christmas "Holly Berries" earrings emailed me to let me know that the earrings arrived safely and were everything she hoped they would be. Her only down side she said, was that she would not be able to wear them all year long. :)

 

Over the past couple of months I've done more knitting and crochet work than making jewelry. This fuzzy scarf is so soft and warm that it almost makes me wish I lived in a cold climate . . . almost ! Wendi loved it and thinks it is adorable and as soft as a baby kitten.  Now I need to make one for her as this one is going into my etsy shop - guess if it doesn't sell then Wendi will have two "Lulu" scarves to keep her warm during NY winters.

Lulu?  Yes I named this scarf  Lulu.  How did I come up with the name "Lulu" ? Well most of you are far too young to remember a comic book character, of many ages gone by, called Lulu and the comic books were titled "Little Lulu". Little Lulu had her dark hair fixed in springy, coils and it was the spiraling fringe on this scarf that reminded me of Lulu's  hair-do.

Wendi and I think this fringe is both cute and novel. Hope others do too and that some sweet soul will purchase the scarf.   I have it listed on etsy but etsy has rapidly been getting a reputation of cheaply priced items - I've even heard people refer to it as "Etsy Yardsale" - "etsy-bay" and that etsy is just another version of Craig's List -  now I'm wondering if maybe my stuff is too expensive for those who shop on etsy?

I was recently on another site that had posted suggestions on where one could go online to sell their creations - the first site mentioned was, of course, etsy. It was eye opening to read so many comments that denigrated etsy. Several said that etsy was getting old; others said there were too many resellers and too many tacky craft items on etsy; a few bemoaned that etsy allowed venders to copy the creations of other venders and sell them as their own. I suppose when a site becomes as big as etsy is, it become hard, if not impossible to police things (though that never seemed to slow them down when it came to the forums and shutting down threads - LOL).

What is your opinion about etsy and do you think there are any other sites that are as good or even better than etsy ?

A Very Happy Unbirthday

Photo above - the beadworked bracelet I just listed on my etsy shop AlmostPrecious

I'm not sure if I'm sane or totally out of my mind.  I've gone and re-opened my etsy shop AlmostPrecious and am going to attempt to sell jewelry again . . . or perhaps that's jewellery?

Photo above - Red Jasper beads form center of the 7.5" beaded bracelet.

Yes I must be completely deranged, loonier than the Mad Hatter of Alice in Wonderland.  For every vintage shop, cookie shop, handmade soap shop on etsy, there must be ten gazillion jewelry makers.  But you know -- it's not the beautiful, handcrafted jewelry that's made with passion and care that bothers me . . . it's the Chinese, mass produced, cheap trash that bugs me.  How can one get recognized over these sweat shops that are listing hundreds of items daily ?  And how can one compete with Dollar Store prices?

Photo above - a little bit of this and a little bit of that went into making it.

Photo below - Love the cute clusters of tiny, 2mm red jasper beads that frame the large 12mm center bead of high quality red jasper.

Photo above - and a cute little bronze Apple Blossom button makes for a dainty clasp, along with a sweet little loop of  glass seed beads.

Well, as I said I may be crazy . . . may even have dropped my old brain in the middle of a soccer match and had it kicked about one time too many, but daffy, cracked or stark raving mad,  I've decided to give it one more try.   Wish me luck . . . say me a little prayer . . . send me a five leaf clover -- a lucky penny -- your blessed piece of ABC chewing gum . . . cause I'm off to a very Happy Un-birthday Party.

Perfection is a Problem

Perfection is my problem but that's a story for another time.  Once again I had a vision, I knew just how I wanted the out come to look like...well pretty much anyway.  At first I played around with the beads and findings getting a feel of where I wanted to go and then I sketched out what I thought it would look like. 
This design allowed me opportunity to use my new wire coiling tool, unfortunately the smallest mandrel that came with my tool was too thick to make all of the springs that the design required so I would have to improvise for the tiniest coils. 

Everything looked well until I actually began putting things together.  It was like driving in a section of town where you've never been before, you think you want to go straight down 1st street and turn left on 2nd avenue, only 1st street does not connect with 2nd avenue and so you go round and round trying to get from 1st to 2nd.

Originally I had intended to use the large 7 mm jumprings (see photo above) to attach the 3 coils and their spacer beads directly to the earring however when I placed everything onto the jumprings the coils stuck out at rather ridiculous angles.  So the hunt for 2nd avenue began!  I decided the coils and spacers (which are tiny - 3mm x 1.5mm - sterling silver flat rondell beads) needed some type of straight object to hang from. 
Well I went down one street and up another and after a couple of different attempts came up with the combination shown above.  A sort of triangular bail that I constructed out of 20 gauge wire and embellished with gold plate wire coils (also handmade by me).  These were attached by way of that hefty 7 mm jumpring to the loop of the earring.  Rather indirect route but now that it's done I find I like the effect even more than the original plan.
Would you like to see more ?

I made all those little coils (or springs) myself, some required the use of a piece of 20 gauge wire as a mandrel in order to get the inner hole small enough and were made with 26 gauge wire so as not to overpower the effect I was striving to create. 
The dark gray beads are hematite capped with tiny silver plated bead caps and threaded on to gold plate ball tipped headpins.

Right now I'm debating whether to list them on Etsy or place them in a local gallery.  I'll probably decide upon the gallery as I find my jewelry sells best where people can actually pick it up and see it, as they say; "up close and in person".  :)

LOST ON THE INTERNET

Lately I've been fashioning a few new earrings and, at the same time, toyed with the idea of opening a second etsy shop ... yes I'm STILL contemplating this. There is just one thing that prevents me from doing so and that's etsy's reluctance to set up their site to allow sellers to have multiple shops under one email account. Etsy must have some logic in dragging its heels on this but seems to me that there are so many other things that etsy could give its sellers rather than circles and "tinker-toy" features. Why am I so against setting up a new email account ? Simple hardheadedness perhaps. Toggling back and forth from one account to the other is worrisome and I fret about the possibility that I may miss or over look a customer's inquiry or, horrors, an order !

photos above and below ... My handmade yellow berry beads were used in this pair of  golden earrings.  The ear wires are not made by me but are 14 kt. gold filled and I did embellish them with a Swarovski crystal.



My etsy shop has a few pieces of my handcrafted jewelry but since it is supposed to be a supplies shop I want to keep the ratio in perspective and keep the jewelry down to a bare minimum. So I've made earrings and now I've got a few pairs sitting on my desk wanting to be displayed.

photos above and below ... Love these oh so sweet lampwork beads.  Here I've used my own handmade sterling earwires embellished with 4mm, cats eye beads.   

Recently I listed these sweet little Art Glass Bead earrings (photo below).  Named them Dewdrop, as they remind me of the sweet little dewdrop flower.  They have my own handcrafted sterling silver earring wires that I've embellished with a crystal bead in a soft shade of opal green.  Absolutely adore the flower shaped pewter bead caps !  Can not believe that after a couple of days of being posted on etsy and on facebook, they've only received 4 views, one of which was myself, so in reality only 3 people gave them a look.  It was hardly worth the effort of listing them ... or the 20 cent etsy fee !  lol

From Inspiration to Realization...

A few days ago I did a post on my pile of inspirations, granted it looked more like a hodge podge of assorted beads and findings but each pile was its own little inspiring idea awaiting creation.

I have completed a couple of these piles of ideas and am posting my first one, as promised.  These long dangle earrings are crafted from lead-safe copper wire and a mix of Czech glass beads and Swarovski crystals.  Not too fussy, not too ornate...simple, swingy and super fun.  Unfortunately these looked so good when I tried them on I decided to keep the first pair for myself and had to make another pair for my etsy shop.

Photo above...Combo of  black and red Czech glass beads along with Swarovski Fire-Opal crystals   are highlighted by the warm tones of my copper wire work.  The earring hooks are also my own handmade and bead embellished hooks.

Photo below...Just a part of my head to show my earring being worn...I should have worn a lighter top...no I should have gotten someone else to model them for me !

Photo below...Close up of the spiral wire work that I added to the black glass disc beads.

Since it looks like Etsy is going to take its sweet time to instigate a protocol that will allow us to have multiple shops under one email address or to be able to change our shop/user names, I will seriously have to start thinking about getting a second email address and opening another shop for my jewelry.  Not that my jewelry is flying off the shelves (oh how lovely that would be)  I just don't like mixing my supplies with my finished pieces. 
Aly of  AlyGatr'sEverywhere  I think you need to open an etsy banner shop as it looks like I may be needing another banner some time soon. : )

AlyGator's Miraculous Banner Brightening

I have a brand new banner in my etsy shop thanks to the lovely handiwork of none other than our very own and wonderful AlyGator's Everywhere .

I took a trip into Aly's sweet Etsy Shop and couldn't help but notice her crisp, clean, very appealing banner and had to compliment her on it. My own banner was not quite, but almost an eyesore. It was drab, lackluster and had a disheartening grayish tinge to it that made it look dingy and would have been the perfect candidate for that laundry commercial; the one in which a British lady goes around washing people's dingy socks and shirts, making them bright and white again.

Once this wonderful banner was installed I couldn't believe how much more cheerful and inviting my little shop looked.

Thank you Aly ! : )

Last Minute Preparations...

Today will probably be the last day that I'll post on my blog before going on my trip. Tomorrow will be spent packing, doing those last minute shopping trips, a quick tidying up of the house with a promise to give it a good cleaning when I return (yeah, right ! LOL). This evening I'll put my Etsy shop and Artfire shop on vacation mode. Though with all the traffic my shops receive I wonder if it's really necessary, but guess better safe than sorry, would hate to have someone place an order and end up having to wait 2 weeks before hearing back from me. No, that would be a very bad thing ! Martha Stewart would surely give me demerits for that and, heaven knows, I've chalked up far too many Martha demerits already for my cluttered workroom and untidy home...let's not even talk about the weeds in the flowerbeds.

I have my fingers crossed that I'll be able to take photos and post them as I proceed on my excursion. I am thinking that when I return I would love to have a blog giveaway, have never attempted one so really am not sure what is involved or how to go about it. The item I am contemplating as a prize is a brooch (or broach, if you prefer). It is one that I made not too long ago and is handcrafted from fine 28 gauge, craftwire, tri-cut #9 Czech glass seed beads, Czech firepolished glass beads and a lovely 6mm Swarovski crystal bead. It took me 10 hours to fabricate. Please let me know if you think it is prize worthy.

Another Step in the UFO saga

Some of you may have noticed that my Blog Banner has changed, no photo of my triple strand rose quartz and pearl necklace. It no longer proclaims "Almost Precious", which is the name of my handcrafted jewelry business and my etsy shop. In the beginning I tried to make some connection between my etsy jewelry shop and my Blog, so chose the Blog name of ABeader'sBlog. A mistake of course as with time my path wandered far off course...and you know what ?...I enjoyed the diversion, it was fun. It was nice to get away from etsy, etsy, etsy !
For the past 5 months I've felt like I did little else other that fret and work trying to get my shop off the ground, that was like trying to make a kite out of bricks...it just wouldn't fly !
Haven't talked about my craft or my shop in a while and perhaps that's exactly how it should be; "So long shop...so long etsy" ? Oh well...c'est la vie !


A couple of days ago John glued down another skin on our notorious UFO cabinet, only things didn't go quite the way he wanted. For some reason two small sections at the ends of this 3rd skin did not adhere to the cabinet.
I had wondered about this latest glue job as his pressure, weight system was completely off. The hardware section was minus the paint can...what hardware store doesn't have a paint section ? Not only that but there was no mayo on the grocery aisle.


above : 3rd skin going down, but something's amiss...where's the paint and the mayo?

below : this will be the front of the coffee table, it has two doors...look at all that interior space for "STUFF" !!!


With out the paint can and the jar of mayo was it any wonder that there's an "adhesion technicality" ? Now John had no recourse but to be very mundane and totally uncool ...

above: John resorts to the use of a clamp...so unimaginative ! On this side, since it is the open side which will someday have its doors back on, it was easy to attach a clamping tool. The other side however took a little more ingenuity.
Below: John combined two pipes to extend his pipe clamp...what a tool !

Might not be much of a coffee table yet, but sitting in the middle of our family room it is certainly a conversation piece !