Luna's Baublebilities

More and more lately, I have people ask me to punch a hole in the brass charms they buy from me or ask me how they can punch their own holes in charms they get from my shop and others.  I can easily punch holes in my brass charms because I have a nifty hole punching tool.  If people want to buy their own nifty hole punching tool, I always send them over to matsbeads on Etsy.   

m.a.t.'s beads is a real life bead shop in Vestal, NY that also operates a respectable Etsy shop.  I've never shopped there but they have an Excellent feedback rating and I've been browsing their tools and cord inventory a lot lately.  Most of the tools I need, I can get for a little less money, considering the high volume orders that I place from my bead suppliers, many of whom also sell tools.  But matsbeads' prices are great for someone who doesn't want to order $300 worth of beads to get a slightly better price on a tool or who isn't eligible for a wholesale account because they don't have a tax ID yet.  They also have a respectable selection of tools, including the hole punch, metal stamps, pliers, wire working gizmos, mandrels, kumihimo plates,anvils and hammers, etc . . . 

And their selection of beading cord is excellent - lots of colors, types and thicknesses.  Everything from natural silk thread for pearl stringing to Nymo and C-Lon for beadwork to thicker C-Lon for macrame or kumihimo.  Not to mention a pretty respectable selection of firepolished czech glass beads, some very interesting metal spacer and accent beads and some ceramic tools. 

Nifty stuff.  If you need some tools or cord, go check them out!

Oh - and if you need tiny dragonflies, little scarabs or rosy rose links in either plain brass, patina or glorious enamel colors, stop over at one of the  Goblins' Markets.  I just got a new shipment of these supplies in yesterday.  Yay!




. . . .

What a week! 

Life is more hectic than usual as we adjust to having a busy drama club high schooler in the house.   Maxx is sick with a cold again already, which is about right - it has been 3.5 weeks since his last sick!  But worst of all, Bryan was attacked by a Kamikazee deer Thursday night that may have totaled out lovely little Honda Fit.  Luckily, Bryan is fine.  We're waiting for the insurance company to give us a list of options before we panic about the Fit.  I really don't want to start over with a new vehicle loan at this point.  The plan was to pay the Fit off and enjoy driving a very well cared for car for several years before making another purchase so that the Fit could become Molly's college car.  Let's keep our fingers crossed!

I did manage to make some progress in my shops.

Over at GoblinsMarket - Etsy, I have a number of bead strands on sale.  Remember I mentioned finding a new wholesaler with slightly higher prices but smaller minimums in the last post?  Well, I'm waiting for my first shipment from them and I'm eager to move out some of the extras I had to order from my old wholesaler last summer.  They are beautiful beads but now that I have played with them a bit, I don't see myself designing with them much and my new philosophy on bead inventory is to focus on stocking things that I want to design with.






I have also posted 6 gorgeous Alchemy scarves in my ArtFire shop.   I have such a hard time selling my Alchemy scarves because I end up wanting to keep them all to myself.  They're so sumptuous and colorful.  You can wear them with anything (or with nothing) and they look great.  They're long enough to wrap around in several different ways and they're quite warm and durable in spite of being such a lightweight silk.  I made my first Alchemy scarf over 6 years ago and it is still beautiful and wearable.  They are wonderful for gifts - remember that Valentine's day and Mother's day are coming right up!

While GoblinsMarket-Etsy is fully functional right now, I still haven't re-opened my LunasBaublebilities shop. I  am concentrating on uploading scarves and jewelry designs to my ArtFire shop right now.  There are a lot of reasons for this shift in focus but the main one is that I hope that my work will be found faster on ArtFire.  I'm waiting to see if Etsy fixes their PayPal link and how many of Rob Kalin's new bright ideas actually get implemented over at Etsy before I decide whether or not to re-open LunasBaublebilities over there.  For the past year, I've felt like almost every minute dedicated to that shop was time wasted because of low visibility for jewelry and accessory sellers on Etsy.  I'll be doing some advertising experiments for both my ArtFire shop and my Etsy shop(s?) in the next few months that I will let you know more about as results start to come in. 

Onward!  Saturday is almost over and there is much left to do before we  have friends over for games tonight.








. . . . .

A blog post is NOT what I intended to work on tonight.  But. .  .

Maxx has been having some serious adjustment issues with back-to-school and had a violent meltdown tonight after dinner, including punching me several times and saying "I wish I didn't even HAVE a Mommy!"  This as a result of being instructed to NOT allow the dog to drink from his cup of milk.  Maxx and I did a hold down on the kitchen floor while waiting for Daddy, who dispensed an appropriate spanking and talking to and sent the boy to bed before leaving for meetings tonight.  Boy hasn't slept and keeps coming downstairs.  I am frustrated, discouraged and angry and can't work at any projects upstairs right now.

I've been having a hard time finding my feet after vacation.

I'm no longer a home schooling mom.  That's O.K.  Molly is having a great time in HS and is enjoying the musical immensely.  She's even starting to catch on in Algebra. Wisely, they put her in the slow class and she is doing just about as well as the kids who have been there from the beginning of the year.

I'm trying to lose weight the old fashioned way.  You know - eat less and exercize more.  So far so good but with tonight's stress I really want some chocolate and I've already broken into the popcorn.

I'm struggling with my calling.  Primary Secretary is very administrative which means that I don't have a lot of prep time for Sundays since I'm not teaching but it also means that I'm not growing spiritually because I'm not teaching.  I'm also not doing a very good job in it.  I had to miss a meeting tonight because I needed to get Maxx in bed.  It is simply impossible to have both Bry and I out of the house on a school night and since Bry is the BP - his responsibilities at church come before mine do right now.  I also feel that Maxx clings to me and acts out more in Primary than he would if I weren't stationed there every week.  I'd like him to be more independent on Sundays and I feel like my being available in the room impedes his development there.

I'm trying to determine what to do with my business.  Bry is already playing the "There probably won't be a job for you next year" game with BOCES.  Patterson's budget cuts to education on top of the general economic downturn keep Bryan's position at risk, even though he has been at BOCES for 10 years.  Don't ask - its a bunch of administrative stupidity.  When we began planning for the Beorningstead, I felt sure that I could start producing and selling enough scarves and finished jewelry to pay off some of the extra debt we would have to incur at first to make the transition work.  I still think that is true and that once I do find my feet and get a working routine going, the money will start rolling in the way I need it to.   But I'm pretty sure that I can't make enough to support the household.

Who knows, maybe I could.  But at this rate I just don't see how.

The Goblins' Market supply business contributes a steady cash flow which comes in really handy but the amount of income it provides compared to the amount of time I have to spend is really not worth the hassle.  I need to narrow my inventory and the scope of my supply shops.  I need to do this without taking a loss in my current inventory or slowing down the cash flow.  I need to find the balance between this side of my business and the finished works side - which is where the real profit and enjoyment is.



Where do I narrow things down?  What do I cut out from supplies, what do I increase?

Ribbons and hand dyed cord are very fulfilling to sell.  I spend a lot of time and have lots of fun devising new colorways and the ribbons bring a good price.  They also represent a large layout for raw materials in order to have more than a few lengths of each colorway.  Having regularly available color choices means either doing HUGE lots of each colorway at once or dyeing the same colorways again and again throughout the year.


The enameled brass dragonflies, bead caps and birds?  Love them.  And so does everyone else.  I've managed to restrict enameling to one day a week when Molly and I work together which means that customers wait several days to get their orders shipped out but it keeps that task manageable and trackable for me.  I'm thinking of expanding to include a few more colored metal pieces like butterflies and other repousee findings. 

Beads?  Oh here's a dilemma.  I LOVE having tons of beads to play with and lots of variety.  But since most of the beads I stock are so inexpensive, I'm really not making much of a profit.  Between listing fees and inventory management time, I think that one would have to be selling in huge quantities to make any money with selling beads.  I think I will dig back through my sales records and choose out the best sellers and keep those on hand.  Then I will concentrate on finding a few really special beads for designing with each season and offer a few sets of specials in my supply shops.  I recently discovered some new wholesalers who have slightly higher prices (1-2 cents per bead) but lower minimums and better variety so I don't have to tie up all of my bead money in a few massive strands that I'll get bored with and that may or may not sell.

I love having filigree bead caps and components around for designing with.  Thse will stay, but I will probably start to lean more towards larger and more specialty pieces.  Smaller findings will go.  I realize now that I do not intend to be a "full service bead shop."  There are plenty of those out there.  I want my supply shops to be known for the really luscious stuff - the addictive stuff you can only get from the Goblin Men down in the glenn.

For finished works . . .

I really want to play more with the beads I've got.  I love sparkley stuff.  I need to market it better, though, because jewelry is such a flooded market online.

Scarves.  If I dye, they will buy.  Again, more marketing will help move inventory quicker but I have no fears about losing money on any style of scarve that I produce.  Except maybe the gorgeous hand dyed velvet wraps with the incredible beaded fringe, but that kind of labor is never wasted.

Tee shirts?  I've got some half dyed and waiting for me to finish a silk screen design.  If they don't move well, lots of family members will get pretty tee shirts with peacocks on them for Christmas next year.

But before I can be successful with these finished beauties, I have to actually make some more stuff and get photos of them and list them in my shops.  All of that takes time.


And I haven't even discussed the state of the household.  My studio is a Groggoch's den right now and the bathroom isn't far behind.



I think the boy is asleep now.  Perhaps I can sneak into the studio now?  Or at least upstairs to put my laundry away?








. . . . .

Come join us on Friday night at the SLC Arts Council!   

We're throwing a beading party -  Hilary, Donna Schaab and I and a few other jewelry artists will be there to help people make beautiful jewelry projects from 6:00-9:00.

Bring your own beads and findings or you can buy from the supply that will be available there.  Misty Hollow will be loaning us some tools and will have a few supply items available for purchase.

I will be spending the next couple of days going through my Goblins' Market inventory and deciding what I will bring.  I have some pretty lucite flower beads and a few brass bead caps that aren't part of my regular inventory online that I will be bringing.   I probably will never carry these items in my regular inventory because I feel that the prices I get from my Etsy suppliers are so good that I wouldn't want to try to compete!  Bella Noelle sells the lucite flowers I buy and Artful Market has a large selection of lightweight brass findings.

I'll certainly bring a lot of czech glass beads and some of my very fancy filigree items.  Prices will be a little bit lower than online.

People who come can expect to be able to make earrings, pendants, simple strung beadwork necklaces and bracelets and maybe even some brooches if I can find my pin backs.   We probably won't do much with bead weaving because that leaning process is pretty intensive.   We'll have snacks and some music and lots of fun!

There is an entrance fee of $15.00 that goes directly to suport the Arts Council.  We keep experiencing budet cuts even as we are working towards opening a Multi-Arts center in Potsdam so if this evening is sucessful enough, we'll be offering more opportunities like this.

Hope to see you there!  If you can't make it but would like to make a donation to the Arts Council anyway, please visit www.slcartscouncil.org - there is a green button in the margin where you can make a secure online donation.







....

This weekend, I had a customer ask me some questions about Brass stampings. In composing an answer for her, I realized that this would probably be a good blog topic as there seems to be a lack of honest, concise information out there about these pretty things that so many people are buying and using these days.






The first place to start would be what Brass is made of. Wikipedia has a good explanation
that needs no extra babbling from me. Copper and Zinc. No lead. Yay!






Part of the confusion around all of those pretty filigree pieces out there today is the question of whether they are truly "antique" or "vintage" or not. Based on my experience with these items, I believe that most of them for sale today on Etsy and elsewhere are actually newly manufactured items. There are some out there that are obviously old - left over from old boxes stored in warehouses for decades but those show significant oxidation beyond the simple patinas that modern jewelry artists are applying. The truly old stuff is often dirty and pitted and have come from some auction house clearing out old, unclaimed stuff.




All of my brass pieces are newly made from vintage and antique dies by manufacturers in the U.S. (Yay for American manufacturing jobs!) For basic information on the manufacturing process, we turn to Wikipedia again. In many cases, these dies were put away for decades until the recent fashion trends in vintage style, Steampunk, and retro Victorian jewelry came into vogue. Then the old dies were pulled out and put to work again to create new findings in vintage designs. Thus, you can buy a brand new filigree piece of the exact same design used in a brooch your great-gramma wore. Molly Byn was excited to learn this as she was recently allowed to claim some goodies from her Great Gramma's jewelry box - some items needed repair or repurposing and she discovered a treasure trove of possibilities in my studio. (I'll post some of those creations later on.)

Raw brass items are just that - brass charms, filigree and findings that are unaltered from their original state. These pieces will age and darken, sometimes in a very unlovely fashion and will probably leave a green mark on your skin unless they are sealed in some way. Floor wax, jewelers sealant, clear nail polish and furniture wax (like Renaissane micro-crystaline wax) all work well for this purpose. Brass reacts with all sorts of chemicals unless sealed - amonia will quickly darken brass and will actually eat away at it if exposed for too long. I have started using a jewelrs grade sealant for my patina items so that my customers' creations remain stable and clean.

Because brass reacts with many chemicals, there are many solutions that can be applied to create a patina on the brass. The most usual patina color is a brown-gold color that makes the piece look aged. I recently learned how to apply a green-blue verdegris patina that will start appearing in my shop soon and I have seen a few other colors that I'm intrigued by - chartreuse, deep purple - but I'm intimidated by the chemisty right now and will have to wait until I have a studio with beter ventilation and running water for safety's sake before experimenting with those.




















. . . .

Mothers' day was a pretty low key event here. Bryan was hideously sick and I was tired so we stayed home from Church for a change and watched several segments of Planet Earth. I worked on a bracelet for ME while relaxing next to the fire.



Bryan never sits in front of the TV unless he is very sick and I almost never keep the jewelry that I make so it was a very unusual day.

Here's the bracelet that I made - a herringbone stitch cuff in Peacock colors. Isn't it gorgeous???

I'm teaching a class next month over at the SLC Arts Council on making these bracelets and this is one colorway option. The others are Into the Fire and Ocean. (below)

I'm trying something different with this class. I usually let my students rummage through my beads and choose what colors they want to work with - which is fine for a design class. Experimenting and learning to choose colors, findings and bead shapes that work well together is the whole point of that sort of class. Beadweaving is more technically complicated and past experience has shown that if I let people rummage through beads, we end up using half the class time doing that and some people go home not feeling confident with the stitch.

This time, I'm putting the kits together and people will choose a colorway before they get to class. I need to work up samples for these other two options soon so that everyone can see them clearly. The colors look different when they are worked together in the stitch than they do loose or on the hank. When the class is over, I will probably also offer the kits with written instructions over at Goblins Market.



















. . . . .

The end of last week really fell apart on me. I was breathing through both sides of my sinuses for the first time in two weeks but still not sleeping well and feeling very worn out after Studio Tour. I didn't accomplish much at all besides enameling these beauties. I've posted the minty pair and the amethyst pair at Goblins' Market this morning, the others will go up later.



I wish I thought I was going to have time to play with them myself but I probably won't get to do that 'till after Christmas. I am imagining them as Art doll Angel and Fairy wings and as embellishments on a tiara.

I am determined to try creating a tiara soon. I have ordered a bunch of new pearls and plan to order some heavy gauge brass wire today or tomorrow to use as the base. The price of sterling wire has always deterred me from making tiaras in the past but with this new steampunk movement, a brass tiara would probably find an appropriate market. I'm picturing something with a dark patina on the brass, maybe even a hint of verdegris, with lots of glistening pearls, crystals and a dragonfly or set of wings to add lift. I'll be sure to take lots of photos of the process when I get around to it!

Now I have to go clean house and pay bills. Maybe that would be more fun if I had a tiara to wear whilst sweeping and dusting.