Brass Charms and Filigree!

These are what I am buying today- I love all the beautiful designs and finishes, and I think these will be great and very useful for my customers who design their own jewellery . There are so many wonderful things to make with the filigree pieces, beads, wraps, fans, rings, earrings and brooches. Sue loves Victorian themes and she has a number of filigree pieces from jewellery designers she has found on Etsy, and they are tremendous works of art! I am buying in a few different finishes today, mainly brass ox,antique silver and gold. Time to start waiting for the postman!

Dawanda

Sue has had her soaps listed on Dawanda for a couple of years and had more or less forgotten about it - it seemed to be so quiet and there was not a lot going on, compared to Etsy where she has really had some success. I thought I would try though as I am selling jewellery making supplies to craftspeople, and I think my beads will be of special interest to jewellery makers on sites like Dawanda. I listed some of my czech glass beads, a few mixes and several of the Kashmiri beads, and when I went back to add more I discovered I had sold 8 lots. So needless to say I will be sticking with Dawanda for the European market. I really do like using Dawanda too because the interface is clean and fairly simple- it looks great!

New Kashmiri Beads in Stock

I am delighted with the new consignment of Kashmiri handmade beads that have just arrived from India, the quality of the beads is amazing, and they have been really well looked after-no scrapes or bumps, just perfect beads. I am happy to say that they are selling fast, and soon I will need to order again, adding more designs to the range on offer.

Each handmade bead is a unique work of art in itself, carefully made with polymer clay and resin, and incorporating tiny details, such as seed beads, brass and copper rings, tiny pieces of glass and metal, sequins or rhinestones. My favourite are the black and silver ones with a touch of turquoise, Sue loves the red flower beads. They are all very pretty beads and ideal for adding a bit of exotic luxury to your jewellery design.

Here is where you can buy my beads: Etsy Dawanda

First Sales!

I was delighted yesterday to suddenly find I had made my first sale, it means a lot when you are just starting out in a new store (in this case Etsy) . Even views are strangely exciting, but sales? Fantastic! And then I woke this morning to 3 more :) Each package will go on its way first thing tomorrow as the PO is closed today. I shall spend the next day or two filling my shop.

New photos!

My light tent arrived today and I am looking forward to getting home and trying it out to see if i can improve my pictures. Photography is so frustrating and not my strong point, but I would like to take some decent product shots of my beads etc. Will post some pics later if they come out ok!

The Etsy Learning Curve

I thought I would catalogue my first weeks as a new seller on Etsy -hopefully I will be able to look back at my baby steps fondly in the years to come. Successful selling years I hope! I have such a lot of stock to list and it is much more time consuming than you would first think. With any luck I will get quicker with practice. I decided to list each type and size of bead in my mixes as part of the listing so far, and I might try some lucky dip selections as well as the week progresses. The photography needs some work! I will probably need a light box or light tent, this seems to be recommended by many online shop keepers. So that is on my list of acquisitions for my shop. That list grows ever longer the more I learn. I am finding a ton of useful information freely given by forum members on Etsy, which is immensely helpful and gratifying. I hope I will soon be able to offer advice from my own experiences. OK I now need to disappear and think about listing some more treasures......