The obsessing begins.....

Thank-you to everyone who shared information with me about my Etsy vs. Amazon. I have not totally ruled out another way to sell, but for now I started my listings on Etsy. I haven't had a ton of time, so it is only up to about 19 or 20 at this point. I have a ways to go.

And it begins...... first came the picture taking. Yup.... memories!! I took out my old heavy camera to discover my batteries weren't charged. After digging through ONE of my junk drawers I found some AA's that worked temporarily and gave me about 5 minutes of power before having to rotate them with another set buried in the junk drawer..... ughhhh!

By the time I had my other batteries charged I had already decided I would try using my I-phone. Another problem..... I have 5 grandchildren and my phone was FULL of pictures..... ughhhh #2!!! There goes another couple of hours trying to clean that out (something that needed to be done a year ago). FINALLY..... I have room on my phone and squeeze in a little time for picture taking. I decided that my Iphone was much easier than my big camera.

Next comes the listing.... I did that easy enough, but then obsessively looked back and looked back and looked back to continuously see ZERO views. Oh no, this is why I left to begin with.... the memories are coming back. What to do, what do do...

Well, I have to face the inevitable... promoting myself! I HATE THAT!!!! I hate it whether it is online, at a show, a gallery or anywhere else. I was just not born to be a sales person and that is what you need to be to get sales. Now what? I just have to suck it up and do it. I start checking out other Etsy shops to find differences that might have happened after leaving. There were definitely some. I used to add a cutesy name to each of my products and from what I was seeing, that was not a good idea. So, first change.... the cutesy names.... replace them with dull boring names like "handmade ceramic beads". I don't know about you, but sometimes I have so much going on I literally feel like....

..... my head is dizzy.... I think I forget to breathe and since breathing is essential to life, I need to work on being able to do that at the same time as listing. ughhhhhh #3

Now breathe.... I switch the names and still nothing. I obsessively checked again and again and again..... nothing. I then do a search for handmade ceramic beads and I do see that they came up. Why so few views? It's a big world, isn't it? Maybe I am just not up for this anymore. ughhhh #4

I decide to research even further and look for forums or tips about how to get your work noticed on Etsy. I find that not only should I change my cutesy heading, but I need to add all of my descriptors in the title. Are you kidding me? The head goes dizzy. Don't forget to breathe......  Back to Etsy and back to my listings to change everything once again.

I research more. I found blog posts about using Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and whatever the heck else is out there! Are you kidding me? Yup..... dizzy!

I decide I am going to succumb to the new ways of doing this and put a post on our Twitter page. There were a few more views after that, so that's good. I put one up on my own Facebook page too. I'm not sure that did much. I am at a temporary dead end. It is just too much to figure all of this out, teach full time and make time for my family. 

Is there something easier to do? What do you do to get your work noticed or if you don't sell online, how do you search? I could use some advice!

Thanks for sharing what you have to offer...

MaryAnn

Electric vs. Wood-fire Beads GIVEAWAY

by MaryAnn Carroll

For many of you who have know me for a long time, I was mainly known for my beads. I fell out of the bead making addiction a few years ago and have never really gotten into it for sales since. I do, however, still make beads and use them in my own jewelry. I plan on getting into sales again, but might wait until Handmade on Amazon gets started. I left Etsy awhile back, despite the fact that they are probably the best place to sell handmade items currently. Like everyone knows, Etsy also added manufactured items and, in my opinion, that is like nails on a chalkboard.... enough said!

Since I have made a few beads lately and do have a stash that I have been hoarding, I thought I would share some of what I do.

Mostly, I make mid-fire porcelain beads. Mid-fire means that the glazed beads are fired to about 2200 degrees F.

There are a few things I love about mid-fire electric firing. One of those things is control. The other is that there is a wide variety of colors. As for control, once you're up close and personal with your glazes, you can make them do just about anything that you want. The electric firing is very dependable and the results that I get are often what I expect. I do like to buy new glazes occasionally because I like to keep it interesting. I am actually glazing today and trying a turquoise that a friend gave me. I never do test tiles ..... just give it a shot on about 10 or so beads. I can pretty much commit the results to memory.... I cannot believe I said that because if you ask me to come up with a word for something, it takes me awhile and a few times guessing...

The other thing I make are wood-fired beads. I am VERY lucky to have a husband that fires all of his pottery this way. The wood-fire kiln is 34 cubic compared to my little electric kiln which is less than 2 cubic feet. Wood-fired kilns are not designed for bead makers!!!

As for wood-fired beads, you have to give up control. The kiln is stoked every few minutes for about 20 hours (longer if you have a bigger kiln) so the heat is much more unpredictable. The temps go up and down as you open the door to throw in more wood. You can get a basic idea of what you would like your work to come out like, but  the kiln has the final say (that happens a with electric too, but not to the same extent).

Different kinds of wood ash deposit on the pottery creating unique effects on each one. During this last firing I wanted my beads to be back in the kiln a little further so they didn't get bombarded with ash. Here is the most recent result.

Today I would like to offer a giveaway of  7 random beads. You will receive 7 wood-fired and 7 porcelain. They won't necessarily be the ones shown, but I will pick out some nice ones. If you are a bead collector or you love to use assorted beads in your designs, then this giveaway is for you.

No question today..... Just leave your name and a contact where I can reach you if you win. I will try to pick the winner by this Sunday evening providing life goes smoothly between now and then. My life has a way of throwing  (right now I am trying to recall the word I want to use!!) got it..... A WRENCH INTO THE WORKS!!!

I will contact you personally if you leave a contact. If you don't.... well, sorry about that!

Thanks for reading. 

Facebook, what gives?

by MaryAnn Carroll

Well, I must confess, I have been hearing many complaints about Facebook over the past few months, but had no clue what people were talking about. It wasn't until I was replacing some items in a local gallery, Cinch Art Space, that the owner and I got into a discussion about it.

I decided since I really wanted our first show to be successful, I decided I was going to take some time out to learn about it and run a few trial ads.

I think my initial reaction to the change is that it is not a good thing. As I researched it more, I started to change that opinion. Yes, it is true, Facebook is going to profit from this, but why not? Any of us would want to do the same. They are a business also.

I haven't done much in terms of my business Artisan Beads Plus, but keep telling myself I am going to.  It's like starting a diet..... you know.... I'll start tomorrow!

I have, however, taken an interest in how Facebook can work for Potters for Pets, our upcoming art event to benefit the CNY SPCA. I am, by no means, an expert. Quite the opposite, as I am still in the learning phase.

I have been paying for some ads. I think I have spent about $30 over the course of two months while I experiment. I am hoping that what I learn while doing this will not only bring in more traffic to our actual event at the CNY SPCA, but will also carry over to our Love My Art Jewelry business page when we decide whether or not promoting the page is financially smart.

I have been obsessing about how our page is performing. The more I obsess, the more I learn. There are tutorials online with some short videos that I also found helpful.

Here is a good link to get started - https://www.facebook.com/business/learn

Below are examples of what I use to see how things are going. My current campaign is a post campaign (vs. a campaign to promote the page itself). I have done both page promotions and post promotions. Also, if you don't like how your campaign is going, you can stop it at any time. I have done that a few times.

This graph shows the average performance of people that posts have reached since the page was started on February 10, 2015. You can see those that were reached organically vs. paid.

This graph shows a comparison of likes, comments and shares over two months. From what I have researched, your main goal should be to increase engagement with your fans, the more they are engaged, the more your page might show up in their pages, etc. 

This shows the total reached for all activity over the past two months.

And, most recently, I started to compare how Potters for Pets performs against some other pages that are of interest to me and have some similarities to my page.

I hope this helps you give you an idea of Facebook can work for you.

MaryAnn

Creating a Custom Bead Tree

by MaryAnn Carroll

Some History:

It has been awhile since I used my little doll kiln to fire beads. I do fire in our large wood-fire kiln, but that is only when Bill has enough large pieces to fill it up. A few weeks ago I decided I would sit down and create lots of mid-fire (approximately 2200 degrees F) cone 6 beads and a bunch of cone 10 (can fire to approx. 2400 degrees) beads for the wood kiln so I would be better prepared.... I am the type that is often scrambling at the last minute!!

Here they are completely dry and getting bisque fired. I bisque fire to about 1850 degrees F and that preps them for the glaze that will be applied. There are a few other things in there that I am making for our upcoming show that we are organizing called Potters for Pets that will be at the CNY SPCA in Syracuse, NY.  We also have a Facebook page for this event. We are really hoping for a big turnout, since this is the first show that we have been in charge of. (A little promo here) If you are in the Central New York area, it would be great if you could share our event! It is a first annual, so we need all the help we can get!!

So, I typically leave my warped, very used bead trees in my kiln after use. This time I went to look and there were two of the four! I searched and searched..... no luck. Being that I have a husband who most of the time likes to please, he made me a couple more, but it will be weeks before they are ready to use.  My bead trees are made to get the most out of my kiln. The original group has gone through at least 40 firings and are badly warped. Even warped, I make them work.

Since I use a mid-fire clay, my bead trees are made from a higher fire clay (cone 10) which can go to up to about 2400 degrees F. You could make this out of the same cone that your clay is, but I don't know how well it will hold up. My original trees have been fired to cone 12 in the wood-fire kiln many times. They have taken a bit of a beating as you can see. That's okay.... it is just the beads that need to be pretty!

What we originally did is take the measurements of my little kiln. We then designed trees (this was a few years ago) that would work just right inside the kiln utilizing the most space.  The new ones are a tad bit narrower as it was always a tight squeeze getting all four trees in and there is nothing worse when you carefully set the last tree in a your hear, "ping!" A bead has left one the of trees!!!! Yup, that means that they ALL come back out to start all over. Needless to say, loading the kiln is not one of my favorite things.

With all of that said, I thought I would share how to custom make some of your own bead trees. I cannot compare these to what you can purchase online, but I can say that I can use the most space possible with my own design. You certainly need to start by taking your own kiln measurements and go from there. Also, take into consideration that as a rule the clay will shrink 15%.

The Tutorial:

Here is one of the new trees shortly after being built. This time Bill added some supports on the side to see if this will help slow down the warping. To create this, he use a slab of clay that was rolled out. He then scored and slipped the clay to connect the sides and the base.

Here is a link of a score and slip demonstration. 

After doing that we waited until it dried to a leather hard stage.

In the leather hard clay, I used a pencil tip to begin the spacing that I want. It is best to stagger them as you will see later. I start by measuring approximately 1 inch apart.

I did pull out the ruler after the first row. so that I could stagger more accurately to make the most holes that I could. That is another benefit to making your own. 

After the pencil measures, I started to puncture the holes with a toothpick (I use toothpicks for everything when it comes to clay!) Never just push it through. You need to use a rolling motion.

What I found, however, was that the clay was a little too hard and I was afraid that I wold break the tree. I grabbed what was closest to me. I get lazy sometimes and don't like to get up when I am in the middle of something! I then took a that little piece of nichrome wire in my reach (the same high fire wire that you will hang beads on when you fire them) and used that to puncture the rest of the holes.

As you can see, I did not put the hole all the way through. Instead I pushed it (turning the wire) until it just started to poke out the other side. You don't want to put too much pressure on the clay. If it broke, it would be a very sad day.

You then go to where it was punctured on the opposite side and push the wire through tuning while doing that. This process gets repeated multiple times. I think I did this at least three or four times. 

Once you are satisfied,, you can take one of your clay tools. I would tell you what this one is called, but at the moment I cannot remember. If you are over 50, you get it! You can pick a tool that you are most comfortable with. This happens to be my "go to" tool.

Then I wiggle the holes to make them bigger than the nichrome wire that will be used to hang the beads. The reason for this is that the clay will shrink 15% as stated earlier. I also do not like them to fit too tight. I like to balance the beads on the wire.

Here it is after an hour of work. It takes many times to get it just right. Leather hard clay is not something you want to be rough with. It will break. Now the only thing left is to let it dry slowly. It will be a couple of weeks before I can fire this tree for use with my beads. You do have to fire this before using. I would recommend at least a full firing to cone 6. Certainly, if you use lower fire clays such as earthenware, you would have to make some adjustments.

So, as those dry, I am going to use my old dependable warped trees to fire this batch of beads that I made. As you can see I have glazed beads balancing on the nichrome wire.

These are all fired now. It took two firings for all of them.

By custom making my bead trees, I am able to avoid using shelves like you see in this picture. This was a pain and takes up space that I cannot afford.

Here is on group fired. One took a hit by tipping into the kiln brick. I was able to use my dremel to sand that white off of it. It is the pendant on the top left. that is because I just balanced a broken tree between two kiln bricks. Not the the best move...... live and learn.

And..... guess what was found a day after making the new trees.  I am sure that I don't need to tell you that the answer is... the two missing bead trees!!!! Yup, Bill found them out by the wood-fire kiln. Isn't that always the way? The good news is that now I have some extras.

Enjoy your Friday.

All over the place....

by MaryAnn Carroll

I guess that is the best way I can describe what I have been doing lately. I took a break from jewelry at the end of the summer to remodel our home. That is ALMOST done! Not quite, though. Following that I started painting the book themed Hop on Pop toy box for my youngest granddaughter Adelina. This is my fourth. When my first grandchild was born, I handmade all kinds of things. At the time, I wasn't thinking about more to follow! lol! I have had to limit what I do and the favorite is the toy box.

In between painting, I started making people pendants.

My son graduated, so I made him a BIG person...

Then I started getting into making copper bangles from tubing. They have been a tad bit addicting for me. I think it is because I get to see the results soon after I've starting creating them.... and there is just something about using a torch! I love to use fire to create with.

I made a few discs for my friend Karen McGovern, who makes amazing jewelry with them!

And now, I am back into the swing of making beads again. I was motivated by my grandchildren last weekend when we pulled out the glazes for work they made previously.

And especially, Chloe (almost age 5) and her band of 'pwenguins'.

They'll be hittin' the kiln soon!

So.... here's where I am at as of last night. I am trying not to destroy my kitchen table, but this Fed Ex box is not cutting it!

That's my story.... What's yours?

MaryAnn