New stuff and the big plunge.

Recently, I've become convinced that the day has shrunk. I mean, it's still 24 hours, but it seems like those hours are way shorter than before. I constantly lack time for... just about everything. There's just so much stuff to do!

I still did manage to make some new pieces, and I have another three designs in different stages of completion (two of those are rings! It seems I'll finally, actually, finish some!).

Here's the jumping fox pendant:

Etched copper jumping fox pendant with carnelian chip beads.

Originally, I wanted add just one, round carnelian bead, but after I cut the pendant, etched it, and soldered the jump ring it turned out that I didn't leave enough space between the tail and front legs for the bead to fit. So I swapped it for two chip beads (I was really happy I still had some left). I'm very happy with how the finished piece looks :)

Next, raven pendant:

Flying raven pendant with peacock pearl.

This one is one of those things I just can't take a decent picture of. It's so much nicer in person. And so is the pearl. I did mention in the last post, that I got a whole bunch of those. They're awfully pretty. I planned on making several pairs of earrings with those, and even started, but encountered some problems and left them for the time being. I still to finish them, though.

Fox earrings number one:

Sitting fox earrings

Fox earrings number two:

Fox and tree earrings

Wolf earrings:

Howling wolf and moon earrings

I'm really happy with the etching on those :) Lately, I keep polishing everything to a high shine, and as if poor light conditions weren't making taking pictures hard enough, as it turns out: I'm hopeless at photographing shiny things. This photo was taken with polarising filter, and there's still just bazillion of reflections! Have to come up with a way of photographing stuff like this, or stop polishing everything so much...

Raven earrings:

Calling raven and sun earrings

I had to get creative with the means of attaching both parts of earrings together here. All because I drilled a hole for (originally intended) jump ring to close to the edge in one of those, and was worried it may snap at some point. So instead of jump rings, I made head pins, flattened their heads, and soldered them to the backs of the earrings.And then made them into loops. So now there's no movement, nor rubbing between the loops and the earrings, and nothing should break.

Wolf earrings:
 I just love these :D I almost hope they won't sell, so I'll get to keep them.

And finally, swan couple pendant:

Swan couple pendant with carnelian cabochon.

Surprise, surprise, I actually remembered there's Valentine's Day coming up, and even made something with that in mind.
I spent ridiculous amount of time on the stone. for some reason I just couldn't set it- it kept rattling in the setting, I could feel it move, and it was so irritating! And then, I made one more, half-hearted pass with a burnisher... and it was suddenly set, no movement, no rattling, nothing.
This pendant is also something I just can't photograph. This picture I just about the only one I'm somewhat satisfied with.
I had real problems photographing all of that lot, I was even taking pictures earlier today, when there was a short moment when there was some light available. I haven't look through those pictures yet, so I don't even know if any of them are usable. I sure hope they are.

And about that big plunge... I recently had surprisingly good streak of luck (I was especially happy when one customer, after she received one cuff, immediately ordered another :D And now I have no bracelets left in store;P), and decided to invest the money I made in business course, aimed specifically at jewellery designers. It's starting 1st of February, and now I'm fervently hopping I'll see some results from it, because I keep thinking about all the supplies and tools I could have bought for that amount, and about that health-insurance thingy I'll have to pay later this year, and just the size of the investment is pretty damn scary for me. Here's hoping I'll learn something useful.

I also decided that I would like to see how having my own website would work out for me, so I'm brushing up my coding knowledge, as well as learning totally new things, and later on I'll be designing that website by myself. I know enough html and css to make one, it's the programming stuff that I'm entirely new to (and, obviously, I want it to be responsive. It should be... interesting experience). On top of that, I decided to wholly redesign my banner. I would have this done already, if I just could find a bit of time to do this. I'm also itching to start making layout pieces for that future maybe-website, but, again, can't find the time to do this! I may be slightly insane to take on all that by myself, but that's just me ;)

And one more thing: I've set up instagram profile. I have  a picture of one of the rings I'm working on there, so you can check that out (and I'm too lazy to look for my phone and download that picture to my pc right now ;)

Have a great day!
Kasia

New Year's resolutions

First of all: Happy New Year! I hope it'll be awesome for you! (And wouldn't mind if it would be awesome for me too ;) I also hope it started for you as well as it did for me: on the first of January I've got my second biggest order yet! Here's hoping the trend will continue for the rest of 2016 :)

Are you in the habit of making New Year's resolutions? I'm not. But I've decided to start this year with making a list of goals I want to achieve with my shop, and seeing how this will work out for me. Apparently, as just about everyone seems pointing out, having an actual plan makes it easier to get there (wherever this there is for you). I've never did that, so I'm hoping that having a clearer, better defined view of where I want to be in a year's time, and what I want to achieve during upcoming 12 months will act as a big motivator for me.

Right now, my list consist of 7 goals, but, knowing myself, I'll probably add to it later. Those 7 are pretty modest goals (I hope I'll finally figure out where my elusive target customers "hide", and next year's goals will be bigger ones!), but here we go:

• being active on social media/blog more often, and regularly! As you well know I'm guilty of abandoning them for long stretches of time, and I plan to fix that tendency this year!
• and while we're at it: making a weekly schedule telling me when to post on those media. That should help me with the regularity thing. If I even bother to look at it ;) I'm guilty of ignoring schedules, plans, lists, and anything that helps you stay organised. I'm too chaotic for my own good.
• making at least one new piece every week.
• I hope to be able to make at least three sales a month. I'll have to think about this one, and then make another list of things I'll do to try to achieve that! Three sales isn't much, but seeing as now I'm making one a month, or none, that seems like a reasonable improvement.
• introduce rings, probably made to order. This one shouldn't be difficult, as just today I ordered some supplies for ring-making:)
• find those elusive dream clients of mine. No idea whatsoever how I'm going to do that. That one also requires another sub-list, and ties in tightly with the 3 orders a month one.

• the last point on my list states (almost exactly): to treat this whole mess more seriously. The whole mess is, of course, my shop. This again comes back to being more organised, and keeping track of things.

I hope I won't ignore that list. But I'm not an organised person by nature, far from it. I'm that absent-minded stereotype people think about after hearing about someone creative. I mean, I once spent a whole day looking for new garbage disposal bags, only to find them in the oven the next afternoon! Not to mentions brand-new socks in the fridge. Or getting lost in subway with one entrance and one exit, and coming out the same way I got in. And it wasn't my first time crossing that particular one. Basically, I went into a tunnel and went out the way I went in. Let me tell you, I was really surprised. For my defence, I did drop my keys and had to pick them up.
So, as you can see, being organised, or even knowing which way I'm going, is not my strongest point.

However, I'm really determined to stick to that plan, and make it work. I hope I'll see some results in the next 12 month. And I really hope my recent stroke of luck will continue for a while longer: I've got my biggest order ever at the end of December, and, as I've already mentioned, second biggest one yesterday. That's what I call a very positive end to the old, and equally positive start to the new year!

I wish you all the best! I hope 2016 will be a very happy year for you!
Kasia