Handmade Monday: Copper clay creations

This week I've been messing with copper clay. I once used the silver clay but as the cost of silver started to escalate, making sizeable charms and pendants just became prohibitive. The bronze clay fits much better with my antique bronze phase, but up until recently, it had to be fired in a kiln. So when I saw a starter kit with both bronze and copper clay which could be fired with a gas torch - well, that was my birthday present sorted!

Of course, if you know me well, then you know it's not my birthday yet, so technically the pack should be hidden somewhere unopened. But I never was any good at waiting...

This little heart pendant is my first creation and a collaboration. Not wishing to set the house or district on fire, I persuaded my lovely hubby to operate the gas torch for me. He did a splendid job - no-one's hair was even singed and I'm quite pleased with how it turned out. Here it's set on a chain made of mobius flower links and chocolate pearls. As I don't do copper jewellery very often, all the findings had to be hand made from wire, so this is really a labour of love. But there is a lot of satisfaction in thinking that the whole thing started life as a lump of clay, some copper wire and some pearls!

Hope you like the necklace and if you're in the UK are having a lovely extended Bank Holiday weekend.

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Handmade Monday

Decided to have a go at a Handmade Monday post, having read about it on CraftBlogUK - another great tip from the amazing Haptree, thank you!  It will be lovely to see and talk about what other folk are making.

This week I haven't had much time to focus on my current obsession with wire work and antique bronze pieces, but I have been thinking about the end of summer and how to make sure there's plenty of late summer items available in my shops. 

In spring I bought a strand of brightly coloured shells but haven't known what to do with them.  Then I thought they might contrast nicely with the dark wire and I could do some very simple wrapping.  Sitting down one evening, I was going to really make myself go completely random with the pattern but alas, my controlling self got in the way, and as you'll see there are rigid patterns of seven colours in each section!  So wish I could do something random or asymmetrical - perhaps this could be my crafter's challenge?  Anyone else want to join me on that one?!

The finished necklace - bright and dark together

Here's the link back to Handmade Monday:
http://www.1stuniquegifts.co.uk/blog/2011/08/handmade-monday-29/

Folksy Friday: Anniversaries

All these lovely handmade shops are coming up for a year's trading online or more on Folksy.  I've picked my favourite item from each of these 'veteran' online traders.  Not only do they have stickability, they are also pretty skilled crafters too.

Happy anniversary everyone!  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shop.

1. Sweet fabric birds by Cwtch

2. Sunny sunflower earrings by Putting on the Charms

3. One of many beautiful ACEOs available from GweddusArt/Teabreaks

4. Striking polymer clay pendant by Averilpam Design

5. Bronze flutterbys by flonightingale

6. Slipper socks (just for toddlers!) by Over the Rainbow

7. Pretty greetings by jujucards

8. Get festive early with this decorative cozy by The Crafty Bride

9. Delicate wire wrapping on this citrine pendant by Mystic's Realm

Photography tips from a non-professional: Making your product photos stand out

This blog post on photography was so popular, I thought I'd dare to venture down that road again and show you my tips for post production, or making your product photos really pop after you've taken them.

I use Gimp but I'm sure the instructions are pretty much the same for other photo manipulation software.  Gimp is my choice because it's free and there are bits of it I can understand.  If only I had more time to work with it, I'm sure I could do some pretty cool things.  But I'm a confirmed amateur, and I'm deliberately avoiding any technical language here because I just don't understand it. 

Anyway, here goes!  Hope it's helpful.

Open your photo in Gimp - you perhaps want to make a copy to work on.  Here's some tigers eye and carnelian earrrings looking a little grey and flat.  What I'm showing you here is how to get a white background and make the image stand out but without distorting the colours or contrast of the product.

 Choose the 'colours' menu, and from that 'levels'

You get a graph - don't panic!  You are going to manipulate the graph, but it won't be like maths in school, honestly :-)

 Locate the little triangles underneath the graph at either end...

 ... and simply grab them and drag them to where the black shape on your graph starts.  I've started with the right hand one and pulled it over to meet the end of the black blob graph shape.  Note how this has already lighted the background from grey to off white. ('grab' and 'blob' are technical terms, honest!)

You can experiment with moving the triangles further, but you'll see once you are in the zone of the black shape of the graph, you'll start to distort the colour and contrast.  Keep the triangles right at the start of where the graphs start at either side, and you'll generally get the clearest image.

 You can save now, or alternatively, you can pick up the 'dropper' icon on the right....

 ...and pop it anywhere on your background.  With a bit of luck, it will give you a snow white background too!  Combine the two approaches and your product should really start to stand out.

 You've done it!  Any problems, you can always use 'reset'.  Don't forget to save before you quit. 

Phew!  My first tutorial with screen shots.  Let me know if it's useful, and if I've made any mistakes. 

Alison

Folksy Friday: A bit of freehand embroidery

It's a while since I've done a Folksy Friday so here goes.  Spotted a couple of really beautiful embroidered designs on Folksy recently.  I do a bit myself, but nothing as neat as these!  I really love my embroidery 'old-style' if you know what I mean, free hand, it brings back memories of happily playing as a child with a stack of half finished tablecloths and napkins and paper embroidery patterns and hoops that I think were left in our house by my paternal grandmother. As she died before I was born, I never got to learn from her, but those patterns and bits and pieces were a bit of a crafty inspiration.

Click on any of the pictures to visit these lovely shops:

This needle book combines embroidery and applique by Lynwoodcrafts

Stunning beaded and embroidered art deco design by Rebecca Jayne Dagger

So applicable to me!  Framed embroidery by littletreasures

A choice of very pretty flowers from Natalie Ofkants

Which is your favourite?

Wordless Wednesday: My summer project to improve my wire wrapping skills

What do you think?  Early days yet!

Handmade and the high street 2: Summer flowers and maxi dresses

The current vogue for maxi dresses and flower patterns has me drooling.  Soon it might even be warm enough to wear them!  Here's a selection of high street and handmade items to prove once again that the two go really well together.




I was spoilt for choice searching floral maxi dresses online, but this one from John Lewis with its really dramatic neckline and muted colours really took my eye.  Love the butterflies too.











This Paul Smith handbag from House of Fraser would be perfect with the dress (floral prints together are so cool!)  I think the bag is currently sold out but clicking on the image will take you to a selection of Paul Smith bags including similar floral ones.










You need a lovely pair of sandals to go with these, so to carry on the floral theme, here are some gorgeous ones from Roberto Vianni at Debenhams:

Don't they have a great gladiator feel about them too?  I still have a pair of beloved gladiators from Office, which must be about five years old now.  I think they've lasted so well because I can't walk outdoors in them so they have, ironically, lived in a drawer in my office!!


Here comes the handmade bit, and a shameless plug for my handmade jewellery this time.  Mookaite (or moukite or mookite) must be my favourite gemstone at the moment and it's been a big seller for me.  The contrasting deep reds and mustard yellows are the reason behind that, I think - you wouldn't think they'd go together, but they do.  Here's my take on this summer's trend - a long tassle necklace dangling from a central flower charm, matching earrings and a bag charm for that lovely handbag.  Simples, as the meerkats say :-)

Hope you've enjoyed this taste of handmade and the high street again.  Many thanks to John Lewis, House of Fraser and Debenhams for permission to reproduce their product images.  Do let me know what your favourite item is.

Good and bad for online sales

As my regular blog followers know, I think there's a lot of luck involved in successful online selling (see this blog post on luck if you missed it). However, looking at my stats now another financial year has ended, there seem to be some patterns in my sales and some things that I can't back up with hard evidence, but are serious 'hunches' and I wondered how many of you agree that these are good or bad for sales and views? Here goes, and remember each one is just my opinion or gut feeling.

A great eternal truth of shopping:owls a

re really popular

The recent sunny weather prompted these thoughts and my first proposition:

Sunny weather is bad for online selling. People are outside instead of in browsing the Internet. So bad weather is much better for views and sales.

Winter, autumn and spring are better than summer for sales and views. Even if it's a bad summer in the UK, there's still less Internet activity. This applies to Etsy too, even though it's a global marketplace.

August is the worst month, October is the best. It's either very organised Christmas shoppers who are attracted to my shops, or the change to autumn sends more people to online buying.

Weekdays are better than weekends for both views and sales. The exception is late Saturday night when some folks clearly go back to things they spotted online earlier, and being at the most relaxed and happy point of the week, decide they will, after all, treat themselves.

Evenings are better than daytimes - certainly for views.  But sales can happen at any time of the day or night.

Sales (as in discounts) and promotions are counter productive for smaller sellers without high numbers of returning/repeat customers. If your customers mostly find you online through searches (rather than being sellers on Folksy or Etsy themselves), then they are probably browsing your shop for the first time. That means they never knew what your non-sale prices were, and they probably don't care much if you've got 20% off today. In fact, if they like your product and it fits their needs, they may well have been prepared to pay the original price for it. 

Returning customers are different but if they think you might be having a sale, they may decide to wait for it, and in the meantime get distracted and buy elsewhere.  Better to offer your returning customers a discount for future purchases, then they may be attracted to buy whenever they see something they like, knowing they are making a saving.

And lastly, and most controversially...

Like marmite - love it or not, instant reaction

Hard selling and persuasion don't work.  At least, not for me with jewellery. Jewellery's not like double glazing - you don't need to be talked into the merits of getting it, you either like it enough to buy it, or you don't. 

Good pictures and descriptions help to reinforce that gut reaction you get when you see something you really like.  But they don't actually sell items. 'Wanting' and 'needing' feelings control whether people buy things, even so-called impulse buys, and you as a seller can't really influence much whether your potential buyer has those feelings.  Sure, you can tempt them.  So the main thing is to make sure those potential buyers can see your products... and that means focusing on listing and SEO. 

What do you think - agree or disagree?

Folksy Friday: Blues and whites

Working with some lovely handpainted blue and white ceramic beads gave me the idea for this weeks Folksy Friday.  Aren't they beautiful?  Click on any of the pictures to go directly to the shops.






1. Blue and white oval buttons by Amanda Mercer/Designer & Maker
2. Tea cosy by Ruby Ruby
3. Pill box feather hat by Rachel Wykes Milliner
4. Glass bowl by Abundant Glass
5. Felt flower brooch by Charlys Gems
6. Shopper by Ann Lampitt

Folksy Friday: Comic Relief 2011

All these lovely Folksy sellers are donating to Comic Relief/ Red Nose day this year, so why not pop along to their shops to show your support. 

Red and white crochet hearts by HeloiseV

AuntyJoan is also donating to Tsumani relief, so there's a double reason for getting beautiful cards or ACEOs like this one from her shop...

A tea cosy, or you can wear it on your head!  By Hippo House

Release your inner terrier with this fabulous ACEO by Stone Soup