Break Bead Fast

I gave up buying new beads for Lent. It was a rough 40 days. Now that Easter has passed, I am nearly overwhelmed with the knowledge that I CAN HAVE ANYTHING - if I can pay for it.

Now I wonder if I will be overwhelmed with the possibilities presented by so many new beads! I had been drooling over Indonesian glass, bicolor Czech glass, pyrite-encrusted quartz, and some delicious  alien pod-berries by Karen Elmquist. I have now bought them. Anticipaaaaaaation!

I cannot wait for the day that, as a designer, I have a specific image in my head that I am able to accurately recreate in reality. Sometimes I come close. Those are good days.

I am so psyched by this new necklace! A rare example of having the knowledge I needed to make exactly what I wanted.

I made the cloud shape from 16ga copper wire, pounded it for a bit, and then soldered the puffy curls together. I am proud of that. Plus new Happy Mango beads, a pinch of Czech glass, and a colorful range of rainbow amazonite.

The "petrichor" stamping is a subtle Dr. Who shout out, as well as one of the 100 most beautiful words in the list curated by Robert Beard. I've been hanging onto these letter stamps for a while now, hoping to find some beautiful words to stamp - I'm a little jaded by the cookie-cutter word stamps out there ["love" "live" "laugh"], so I had to come up with something really good. Found it! Expect more word stampings shortly.

Background

Tonight, I gathered an old corn cob, a copper mesh basket, a shell, a fan of coral, half a geode, a silk handkerchief, three vintage wood clothespins, an antique clock face, and an armload of colored, textured papers, in an attempt to get some serious backgrounding going on in my Etsy shop (www.herwhimsy.etsy.com).

You go look at it. Go on, it okay; I'll wait.

 The backgrounds. They are . . . okay. Adequate. Decent. Alright.

Sparrow Salvage is the picture-taking master. And she was kind enough to post a blog about how to take amazing pictures for Etsy, starting with the backdrop.

These are my before pictures.

 You gotcher oxidized brass focal with rough fluorite nuggets, carved bone, and ceramic beads.

 Oh, right, and there's a lampwork one. And some jasper. Ooh, and Baltic amber chips.

And bitty shell heishi beads on the end. Right. So, boring background. Yes? Here are tonight's.

 

Sparrow talks about giving your item a "feel" or brand concept that is fluid throughout your shop. I guess I'm still figuring that out in mine, but this piece is sorta rough and tribal while (to me) still seeming a little flirty. Y'know, like a cave-woman dressing up for a night out on the . . . plains. Caves. Whatever.

 

So there's that geode I was talking about; just a hint of it 'cuz I wanted the focus to still be on the piece; and you can see the layering I'm doing with the multiple shades and textures. Not sure how well they're workin', but that's my attempt at nuance and layer and substance and stuff.

Didn't help that the lighting pretty much sucked. These pictures have been auto-leveled on photoshop, and that is all. Mebbe photographing in the daylight would help these out, too.

So that's pretty much my cavewoman necklace. Maybe the backdrops are too soft for the boldness of the piece? I'm still figuring this out. With any luck, Sparrow will be by to help me in my muddled attempts.

My New BEADs!!!

No, it is that exciting. Exciting enough for all caps and three exclamation marks, which I rarely ever do.

I gave in to the enormous pressure of a big sale from my favorite bead company and went, possibly, a little overboard. The end result was that I ended up ordering a LOT of beads and went into debt to myself. There's a spreadsheet. It's a little complicated. I still owe myself 68 bucks, so I gotta keep getting Etsy sales so I can start accumulating the money to pay for Christmas, too. ;)

 This is how excited I was when I got:

 My big box of rocks!!!

Tourmaline in multiple colors, from watermelon green to that yummy pink.

Labradorite in rounds, nuggets, drops, rondelles, and puffed ovals.

Pink Peruvian opal and yum yum yum amethyst!

Chunky rose quartz and tourmalinated quartz behind there.

Rough aquamarine, smoky lemon quartz . . . eeeeeee!

Can't get over the schiller on this sunstone. o_O Love.

Faceted and brandy citrine.

More sunstone, ametrine, and this awesome rough, pebbly peridot.

One of my favorite stones, chysoprase.

Ohmigoodness!!! I've never seen beads this big. Ever. Enormous, faceted nuggets of rainbow fluorite.

I have a cardiac quiz tomorrow. And somehow, I will study, because I am a good student. But I'll be casting frequent longing glances over at my yummy rock box while I do.

Etsy SEO Makes Me Work Very Hard

The summer doldrums are not just for sailors at sea; they also occur for many sellers on Etsy during the hot and languorous summer months when all their potential buyers are out changing the fragile pasty tone of their skin to a nice, crisp burn. That’s a good plug, right? *The sun gives you cancer; come back to Etsy!*

In an attempt to win the affections of the few remaining surfers who prefer to hang ten with their fingers on a keyboard and mouse, I’ve been perusing Etsy’s Search Engine Optimization guides, with discouraging realizations.

Apparently, in order to get attention from Google, one needs to name each item with the most descriptive titles in descending order of importance.

For instance, this title: “Fire, water, and bone earrings - carnelian, amazonite, and fish vertebrae” sucks. A cute and interesting first bit of the title will win you no friends, because nobody (okay, weirdo, hardly anybody) is looking for “fire water bone earrings” in Google.

I have yet to figure out exactly WHICH words are the best to put first in order to get the most results. Here’s the listing: http://www.etsy.com/listing/77666258/fire-water-and-bone-earrings-carnelian

The materials are carnelian, amazonite, and fish bones. But do more people search for the names of gemstones, or their colors? Should I rename this “Blue and orange bone earrings” or “Carnelian and amazonite bone earrings” or maybe “Fish bone earrings with gemstone”?

This is where more research comes in, I guess. With 80 listings right now on Etsy, this is going to take a very. Long. Time.

I just hope it’s worth it.

Edit: I got help at the Sassy Critique Team headquarters, 

http://www.etsy.com/teams/7702/sassy-critiques?ref=pr_teams

asking for guidance on this whole SEO listing process. Less than 24 hours later, I received a very helpful reply that has allowed me some relief in my SEO title confusion.

Here is part of the response, to better aid others with similar questions in their quest for better Search Engine Optimization.

“Hi HerWhimsy,

“Here is how I would title that item for better SEO...

“"Gemstone Earrings, Bone Fish Vertebrae Carnelian Amazonite, Orange White Silver"

“Forget the "and" "with" they take up valuable space needed for key words and don't help with searches at all.

“SEO:

“1) Item Titles: The title should be what a person would google to find the item (try to think like a buyer). The first 55 characters are pulled by search engines, so use them wisely. Fill them with descriptive keywords.

“It's important that the defining word (sign, photo, bracelet, etc.) be in the first 2-3 words. Be sure to add colors, materials, chain lengths, style notes, etc. People search with adjectives and descriptors a lot, so it's important to have them in your titles.

“Please do not use "names" for titles (like "Debra Handbag") - title should describe the handbag ("Cotton Slouch Handbag, Long Handles, Red Blue Black") Avoid punctuation and words like "a", "and", "the", "of" or "with".

“2) 6) Tags - Tagging is how your buyers (and treasury curators) find you! Remember to tag for colors too as those are the most common tags curators use when looking for treasury listings. Guidelines and tips on tagging: tinyurl.com/39rf6l Etsy gives you 3 drop down menu tags and 13 tags that you supply to help your item get found. Be sure to use them all, or you could be missing out on opportunities to be found in Etsy searches. The more keywords you use, the more likely you are to be found. You can also tag your shop name. Once you use a word once you do not need to repeat it. Remember tag accurately with words that a buyer might use/search to find you.”

Good advice that I thought I'd pass on. Now I gotta get down to work. There are 80 listings that need lots of work.