Work Progressing

I've been doodling dragon sketches, working up towards a full piece that I want to create for my sons' room. Here's a diving dragon in it's early state.

My scanner has a real problem on capturing pencil, otherwise I would show some of the others. I worked on an ACEO version of this. Originally the background was sky blue but the dragon was lost. So I repainted it black and added puffs of white 'dragon breath' which changed the dynamic of the painting.

BTW, I had to change the description on this in my listing as google does not allow the word 'smoke' for uploading to google base. The completed ACEO is titled Night Dive - check it out! Happy 4th of July!!!

Self Challenge

So, I bought these shells - they were $2.95 individually, $10.95 for 10 - I bought the strand of 10. I've challenged myself to try and create at least 6 fun pieces of jewelry out of them.

The colors are great, brown, peach, green, even a touch of light blue. They're a Lisway shell in bamboo - I'm not sure if bamboo is a name of the cut or just what they look like. They do look like bamboo - pretty nice of the shell to create itself in this shape.

I have the 1st completed and listed for sale in my Artfire store.

I'm pretty happy with how it came out. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest.

So many things to do this summer, so little time!

Artfire Rapid Cart

How cool is it?  You can buy directly from my Artfire store without an account, just by clicking a link on the rapid cart.  Artfire has some amazing features for sellers as well as buyers.  I love "tweeting" with the owner and the staff members, it's a really friendly place to be on-line.  If you've never checked it out, you should give it a try.

There's also a special being run by several sellers right now - the Artfire Stimulus Package - the sellers are offering some really great low priced deals.  I have a couple of my ring bases listed, just $6.  Normally, the base would be embellished with stones and more work, but they look pretty awesome just by themselves.  They're copper, which is supposed to help with arthritis.  I wear them when I'm working on jewelry, pliers are hard on your hands!  I don't have arthritis, but I do seem have less fatigue when I'm wearing them, could just be a placebo affect.  

So try Artfire today and do put "AFSP" in the search box to see what you come up with - consider it an adventure in handmade!

Special special!

It seems I'm always running behind on the holidays.

So, in honor of Valentines Day, I'm offering free shipping on all my jewelry until 2/14.  On Etsy, the shipping is already set to 0.00.  For my Artfire shop, I can either send an updated invoice or refund the shipping price when I process the order.

Either way, jewelry is always a great gift for yourself or others!  And what's better than something that's one of a kind and handmade.

Tulip earrings with fluorite, "Hint of Mint" necklace, Tender Wisp sterling ring.

Closing Up Shop

I've made a tough decision this week.  After reviewing my sales for the past year, I've decided to close my eBay store.

I began in 2002 selling just 10 items per week.  Back then, if something didn't sell, I could move it into my store for a nominal fee.  The FVF (final value fees) were something like 5%.  I sold about 50% at auction and the rest usually sold from the store within 6 months.  Now, FVF for store items is 12%.  By the time you add in the original listing fee and Paypal fees, the cost to sell 1 thing is around 20% in fees alone.  And many of the items end up sitting on my shelves for over a year since store items get less exposure.

I had been doing fairly well in 2007 following the Lynn Dralle method.  She makes tons of money by listing 100 items a week with a starting price of $9.99.  I never managed 100, but usually averaged 40 listings.  Christmas season 2007 was particularly good, as about 70% sold at auction.

Once the new CEO took over, not only did the fees increase but the whole attitude towards sellers changed.  If you can achieve power seller status (averaging $1,000 per month for 3 months), then you get a break on your fees.  If not, you're just out of luck.  Other changes that particularly aggravate me are those that they attempt to explain as being better for the selling community when they are actually thinly veiled ways to get more fees into their pockets.  These include pimping free shipping and not allowing sellers to accept money orders.  Now, you must list a shipping timeframe and a return policy.  

I'm just tired of being told how to run my store.  Now that there are many more sites to sell on that are fresh, exciting and appreciative of seller input (special kudos to John of Artfire), it's time to move on.  And I feel so much better about it!

Setting Up Shops

I've been on Etsy for nearly a year.  Last week, I couldn't pass up the $7 a month for life on Art Fire.  But driving interest to my shops - well, that's a real challenge.  I'm setting up this blog with the idea that my random thoughts plus links to my various pages, will keep me organized and give me a real direction.

We'll see how it works.  Want to go through the adventure with me?