It's Starting...

Have we ever discussed my sense of timing? No? You're sure? Then we need to do so. And I can do it in three words.



My timing sucks. 

I'm either early or late but rarely am I right on target.   I envy those who can predict down to the milli-second of what's needed to be done and WHEN.  Because I'm rarely right on target, I prefer to be early. I discovered this little obsessive-compulsive habit when I returned to college. (Actually, the habit's been there all along, but it came out in force in college.) I was the student you  hated--the one who turned in her papers a week before the due date. The one who started working on her master's thesis while still an undergraduate student. Yeah--THAT student. Because if I didn't turn things in early, I totally missed the boat with the assignment. 

If you can hang in there for a minute or two longer--this is going somewhere. I promise.

So last fall, I decided to open an Etsy store. There were various reasons for this decision, but mainly I had to do something with all the jewelry I had been making. There's only so many women in my circle of friends and family to whom I can give jewelry to for birthdays, holidays, special days or celebrations, and just because.  My beading was outsupplying the demand. And I had been able to ignore it for a long time because it wasn't like I was outfishing a source or geographical area, right? I wasn't actually doing anything unconscionable like deforestation or removing mountain tops. Right? Right? 

Chocolate In Butterscotch Earrings

Another reason to open a store is the Bead Addict. Do you know how hard it is to look at a beads and findings and beading tools and walk away from them all when the Bead Addict is literally screaming in your head? She's hard to ignore all the time.  Some days it's easier to herd cats than it is to ignore her incessant demands to get this bead, purchase those strands, and ohmygod-look-at-those-prettypretty-stones! The Bead Addict can screech like a banshee when it comes to artisan beads. Would I be paying outrageous amounts of money for one bead if she wasn't digging her fingernails into my brain with her screeching? Probably not. Ok...may be I would. Even without Bead Addict vociferating her relentless demands to buy, buy, buy, and buy now. May be.  

Enticing Agates Necklace

 A good reason to open an Etsy store also came from my ever-growing bead stash. Hello! I've gone from a simple Plano box of beads to three rolling carts, two file boxes, and more stashes than I ever thought I would. Beads are addictive. Or maybe I just have an addictive personality or genetic material. Or because beads are addictive. Hmmmm...

As I type this I dare to glance at my desk, which is covered in beads, findings and chains, tools, wire and other stringing materials, loose beads, bagged beads, strung beads--you get the picture. It's not neat or orderly--which is what I need. My school materials are crammed in where ever I can squeeze them and not within easy reach and definitely not organized. Which adds to the mess on my desk. (I have beads tucked inside the paper tray of my printer--it's that bad!) This disarray, chaotic mess drives me a bit insane. Ok...totally insane! 

Ice Blue Princess Earrings & Necklace Set

So I went through my beads carefully and decided that some beads had to go to make room for the ones on my desk that have no place to call home.  It wasn't an easy decision but I had to make it. There are beads I've had for years that I haven't used. This both upsets and delights the Bead Addict--because it's her fault that I have so many beads we--I haven't used in years. She's the hoarding type when it comes to beads--can't let go of a single seed bead in case it could be used in some future jewelry project in some distant, misty future. But I'm more practical and realize that if we make a few pennies off these beads, then we can naturally afford to buy more beads, and may be we can get enough pennies to purchase artisan beads! 

But I found right after opening the store back in October that I underestimated the amount of work it was going to take--which seriously conflicted with the amount of classes I was teaching at the time and the amount of students I needed to to whom I need to attend. I also discovered it's not as easy to take a picture and post it on Etsy and watch it sell later. Those cute sales descriptions have to come from somewhere...and the photography skills needed are more than my point-n-shoot camera can handle...and I have to market my wares, which can cost more money than I had budgeted for.  Then there was the time factor...time to photograph my stuff; time to write descriptions and figure out prices and policies; time needed to market everything on various sites.  

My Garden Necklace

When my holiday/winter break came around, I was more excited at seeing my son and getting ready for the holidays than I was in working the store. The decision to close up shop for a bit was painless. Nonetheless, the decision to reopen took some considerable thought and planning and learning more than I realized at first. 

I've set up my Excel spreadsheets for the store, but am going to revise them to work better for me. I've rephotographed most of my jewelry sets because #1) my hard drive with the previous photos crashed and #2) I learned some helpful hints to make my stuff hopefully  more attractive until I can afford to purchase jewelry mannequins. I've also ordered business cards and learned I need a light box and found instructions to build one. I've also been reading how to make my descriptions more personable, rather than typical corporate-chain store-advertising. I'll be spending a bit more time on the computer than I used to do to promote my wares on Facebook, and other forms of social media.  I've also decided on a plan of action for which pieces I'm keeping as gifts, giveaways, and for myself. Afterall, if I can't keep a few special pieces for us--the Bead Addict and myself--then I'm never going to shut her up!

And I reopened today--My Other Vice,  complete with a sale on certain items. I hope to get my destash items in there soon so other bead addicts jewelry designers have a chance to look through my stash and find that perfect set of beads they've been missing to compliment the focal they have in their stash. I'm also hoping new bead junkies beaders will find my destash items just what they need to build their bead box. 

It's probably not the best timing since it's right after the holidays and everyone is broke, but that's how we got to this point in the first place. My timing issues, remember? But Valentine's Day and Easter are fast approaching. *gently nudges* April and May will bring graduations, confirmations, holy baptisms, bat mitzvahs, proms, and weddings. Not to mention Mother's Day. *nudge-nudge-nudge*

So go look around. You don't have to worry about any sales pressure. You don't have to buy if you don't wish to. But come back often and have a cup of coffee or tea if you prefer while you browse. Stay for a spell and enjoy. You may recognize some beads from some of my (and hopefully your) favorite artisans and as the store grows, new artisans as I discover them. Drop me a line or two and let me know what you think or what you'd like to see. 

Sweetheart's Blush Earring and Necklace Set

 
 

My Other Vice

We all have vices, habits, addictions that we find it difficult to break. Naturally there are vices, habits, addictions that we are just not going to attempt to break because we enjoy them so well! That's where I'm at in my journey. I've given up a lot of my favorite foods, disgusting habits (like smoking) and have sacrificed convenience for quality. I've formed new habits, spend hours--literally, spend hours reading labels on my foods, doing lots of research, and I let my 80-year old neighbor drag me around the park every other day. I've even stopped doing chores in the most time-saving and efficient manner so I'm that much more active. 

I have two vices--I call them vices. Whether or not you do is up to you. But I call them vices. These two shall not be touched. I won't give them up. Not now. Not ever. Don't ask. 

My first vice is my coffee. I was willing to give up smoking just so I could have my coffee. Seriously. Most smokers think I'm a total headcase because I was willing to throw away the cigarettes but not the liquid. Don't ask me to give it up. I won't. You don't know the pain I went through just cutting back from 2-4 pots (and mostly drinking that by myself) down to three measly cups per day. I made others miserable. It ghastly. It was difficult. Giving birth to my son was easier and less painful than cutting back on my coffee. 

(And here comes Harley as I type this. He has to "neck" when he feels traumatized. I mean do the nursing-mama-thing and suck on my neck--complete with kneading. I'm guessing he's feeling my pain at giving up a lot of my coffee and it's traumatizing him. He wants to neck. It should make me feel better. It works for him. But I digress...)

My second vice is beading. Don't ask me to give it up either. The need to bead is strong within me, do you hear?  And please don't ask me which one I value most--my coffee or beading. It's no competition! I've got to have both.

The need to bead goes back to my first real release from the hospital back when I was sick in 2008. I was hospitalized the first week in March and had four more hospitalizations by May. In June, although still pretty frail, I was feeling somewhat stronger. I still had the last vestiges of the suicide ideation which was caused by all the medications shoved, poked, and needled into my body during the past two months.  (Yes, being allergic to medication can cause suicidal thoughts.)  I decided that if my time was limited (and I felt at the time, that the end was fast approaching), I couldn't leave without first making some sort of memento for my sisters. I have two younger sisters. Middle Sister and Baby Sister. Despite all the fights, bickering, slap-downs (verbally--not literally) and miles between us, I still love my little sisters. 

I had seen this Sisters pin of three female figures-each figure done in silver, copper, and gold. Well at the time, I couldn't afford it and at the time, none of us would ever wear a pin. But I loved the idea of symbolizing the concept of "sisters." So I used silver, copper, and gold metal plated seed beads. I wanted a stone that would represent women, sisters, bonding. I found some beautiful rhodonite. I didn't want to make the necklaces exactly alike, but make them to reflect our differences despite us being connected by blood. I chose different colors of 6/0 seed beads.

That's Arby's paw in the upper left, holding down the shot.

  

The concept began growing in my mind. I realized there were several women in my life that I recognized as my "sisters." I wanted them to have a necklace too. So I made one for the special women in my life.  Unfortunately, I was in a hurry to mail out their jewelry, I didn't take the photos I should have. I wasn't quite thinking that clearly yet. 

Beading helped me get my life back into perspective. It gave me purpose. It helped me to get my brain functioning again. I temporarily lost the ability to read, count, do simple thought processes. It was a scary, scary time for me. Beading helped me by giving me something to focus and concentrate on and work through logistics of putting a piece together. It helped me burn the last of the medication effects out of me. 

The first piece I put together that helped me to start functioning again.

 It also gave me my new vice. My other vice other than coffee. I may not be able to drink coffee all day long any more, but I can certainly bead all day long! Well, when I can. When students are demanding lessons and graded papers back. When I don't have to clean the house and plan dinner. Or shop for food. Things like that.

 

I found I could make my own funky but stylin' earrings. I found these beads on eBay, created by Terri Stone at TLSClayDesign. I need to finish the bracelets. Did I mention I have a bunch of her beads?  







Middle Sister's birthday is in December. Last year I decided I wanted to give her something special. I found these beautiful clay shields on eBay, designed by Linda of NKDesigns. I saw one that would be perfect for Middle Sister. When it arrived, I discovered that I really liked it. I kept telling myself that once I made it up, it would look like it BELONGED to Middle Sister and I would be happy. Which reminds me, I need to visit her shop and pick up a few more of her beads. It's an addiction, I tell you!

   

Naturally, this set didn't make it to Middle Sister. I LOVED it when I was finished the necklace. I loved it so much, I had to make earrings and a bracelet that can be worn with the necklace or separately. Yeah, I kept the set. Couldn't part with it. Which meant I had to find new beads for Middle Sister's birthday present. But that was ok since I'm up to the challenge of finding new beads. It's like getting a daily fix. It's rewarding. It's thrilling. It's an addiction to put it simply.

This is the set Middle Sister got for her birthday last year. The flowers came from a very talented artist, Mary Ellen at BeeTreeByME.  I told her she could have the clay shield set after I die. 

 

A close up of Middle Sister's birthday necklace.