Missed The Trend ?

above ... Swarovski Crystal Aurora Borealis Eternity Circle

There are times when I create something and think it is beautiful and will sell in a heartbeat, it is always a a rude awakening when I find obviously that no one else feels the same way.

I meticulously wove these Swarovski crystal Eternity Circle together and loved the depth and dimension of the piece in general.  When I took them out into the sunlight the sparkling effects were beyond amazing ... especially with the Crystal aurora borealis pendant. 

above and below ... Sapphire Blue Swarovski Crystal pendant on handcrafted kumihimo braided cord.

However they seem to gather little attention and I don't understand why.  I think most of you beaders and jewelry makers are all aware of the price of Swarovski Crystals (these are 6 mm) so making a piece that uses over 80 crystals is not cheap.  I priced it about as low as I could but maybe I'm underpricing them and people expect these true Swarovskis to cost more ?  Or maybe they're passe, unhip and outdated ... though I thought circles, representing eternal love, was in ... I somehow missed when they went out. 

Have any of you jewelry maker - beaders created pieces that you thought would go like hot-fresh baked bread and instead sat around your inventory like old, stale biscuits ?

A New Comer to the Neighborhood

Our neighbors have a man-made pond in their front yard that tends to attract water loving birds.  We've seen lots of ducks and egrets enjoying the water along with an occasional snack of fresh fish.  There have also been Canadian geese and tall, gray Sandhill Cranes.  Recently we've noticed a pair of gray herons enjoying the pond (and the fish within it).  How long the herons will stay is hard to guess as it seems this pond attracts transient  water fowl.

Photo below ... The large gray heron is hunkered down so it looks quite short however it has remarkably long legs and when it stands it reachs a rather impressive height.

Photo above ... I had hoped to get up really close since the heron was right beside our fence-line but this was as close as I got before he or she took flight and found the safety of the tiny island at the center of the pond.

Photo above ... One heron is on the island the other is across the water in the back-ground, both are a safe distance away ... now if they could only get rid of the annoying paparazzi !!!

These photos were taken yesterday Oct 20th, 2011.  Today has turned a bit chilly in the low 70's at noon, was in the low 60's when I got this morning and was 58 degrees outside when I went to bed last night.  However the heron have returned today so perhaps they'll stick around for a bit longer in spite of the cooler weather.  They are lovely creatures and John and I enjoy watching them, though I'm sure the herons would prefer that we weren't such snoopy neighbors. lol

I would love to have a camera with a real zoom lens and I keep saying to myself that when my etsy shop starts really selling I'll be able to buy one.  I better not hold my breath on that one. :D

Snarkiness is Alive and Well ...

Change is inevitable, or so they say, and one either learns to accept it, suffer in silence or make a big fuss about it ...  the latter of which is ignored by everyone and so basically you're suffering aloud but no one is listening to you.  
In my viewpoint the Etsy teams are not working all that well, some of them go hours if not days without any activity.   The  Promotions Teams are certainly not as active as other teams nor are they accomplishing the goal that they had been created for.  A far cry from the days when promotions was a part of the Etsy forums and postings changed faster than greased lightening.   
Yes, without promotions the new, scaled down Etsy forums has lost its spark but not its snarkiness. 
At first this move made no sense but now that Etsy has initiated its "Search Ads", it became perfectly clear, at least to me it did.   I doubt that Etsy  wanted the promotion threads to compete with their new form of on-site advertisements, what better way of doing this than to relegate promo to teams and then tell everyone that the forums is closed for any and all promo threads.

Certainly Etsy has gone through a lot of changes lately and though I miss some of the old Etsy I realize that, like toothpaste squeezed from a tube, there is no putting it back.  Eventually the dust will settle and memories of the old Etsy will become little more than a faded memory.  And so we move on.

Recently I opened a second Etsy shop in order to separate my handcrafted jewelry from my beading supplies shop (unfortunately my supply shop has been woefully neglected in this process).  The new shop has been fairly quiet with only 1 sale.  For the past couple of days I've been beading and photographing and today I listed a couple of new items in my shop DellaMessina ... both items are priced under $10 each and I'm hoping that this will generate some attention and possibly sales.

Photos below ... seed beaded Snowflake earrings in white, crystal and silver.

Photos below ... seed beaded Snowflake earrings in white, crystal and gold.

One thing I have noticed about the new, scaled down Etsy forum is that snarkiness is still alive a well. lol   Have any of you visited or participated in the forums recently?  If so what is your opinion of it?  Also if any of you have tried out the Etsy Search Ads, please give us your review and if you think they will eventually turn into a lucrative source of advertising for Etsians?

CHANCE TO WIN A $100 MARY KAY GIFT PACK ...

If you're a Mary Kay fan like I am, you'll be excited to hear that there's a contest/giveaway going on at RaisingColorado .  The winner will receive a Mary Kay Gift Pack worth $100.  For me it's an opportunity too good to pass up as I've been a faithful user of Mary Kay products for ... well let's say a very long time and I wouldn't use anything else.
So hurry on over to see how to enter as the giveaway is only good until the 16th of this month ... 10/16/2011.

No Views - Low Views - Relevancy - What's Up With Etsy ?

Above ... from the side you can see how thick and substantial the sterling bail and Awareness Ribbon is. It came from a high end jewelers' supply source and is no cheap pendant.

Etsy has been a strange bag of beans lately.  Views are way down and it is hard to believe that a big site such as Etsy can't generate a healthy flow of traffic for it's many shops.  A few days ago I listed a lovely pendant and after several days it has had only 5 views.  I don't know exactly how Etsy defines it's new "relevancy" system but it does not seem to be working, at least not for a vast majority of Etsians myself included.

Since October is breast cancer awareness month I made up a very special necklace using a beautiful, genuine rose quartz and sterling silver pendant. 

Above ... pretty in pink.

With so much sterling in the necklace, from the heavy sterling pendant, to sterling silver clasp, crimp beads, crimp bead covers, and even jumprings there was a small fortune invested in supplies.

I decided the heart pendant would look lovely on a jet black necklace but instead of going with a simple cord I strung 3 strands of 11/0 Delica jet black, hex cut seed beads and attached them via sterling crimps (and 49 strand 14 weight AccuFlex beading cable). All in all what I'm saying is I tried so hard to make this a truly special piece for a very special cause and I feel so defeated when I see that it has sat there completely invisible to the public.

Photo below ... the back of necklace with solid sterling silver heart clasp.  This clasp is solid, not hollow or concave on one side, it is flanked on both sides by my handcrafted links featuring Czech firepolished faceted beads ... in pale pink of course.

Above ... I forgot about the translucency of the rose quartz and should not have laid the pendant across the jet black seed bead strands as it tends to show through this translucent stone.

I realize that there are a ton of jewelry makers out there and that Etsy has more than it's share of them on their website but still the Internet has a huge audience, millions of people world-wide.  So only 5 views in several days ? What's going on with that ?