I'm Trying

Well, I awoke to some ridiculous traffic in my shop this morning. No sales, but a crap ton of views. Turns out this treasury was featured on the front page around 1am eastern time. Not surprisingly I was not awake to get a screenshot of the front page, but here's the treasury since it is pretty.

Now that that is out of the way, let me back up to yesterday's progress. I managed to finish the pieces that were in queue and then I spent far too long trolling for inspiration for a new design. I had a few ideas flick through, but they turned out to be less practical than I had hoped. The issue is that if I'm going to offer the pendant at a nice cheap price, I need to be able to make it quickly with as little fuss as possible so I don't get overwhelmed.

I did start work on a modified antique motif. As it is here, it's pretty and simple and might just do the trick, though I feel like I'm cheating a little in not designing it from the ground up.

I did also play with it a little trying to come up with further modifications, but even though I really love the look of the beaded up one there on the right, it was a serious pain to add those beads and join those long picots, thus it failed the fuss test. There was much fuss. I suppose I still have time so I might again try to mine a different design for the tatting day pendant from the depths of my brain and if I manage to find one, this motif will make it's way into the shop, priced to accommodate the amount of fuss or in it's plainer incarnation. Of course if you think the basic version would make a great $5 pendant for the holiday and I'm just over thinking the whole thing, please let me know so I don't drive myself mad today. Thanks.

The Cross Of Ambrosius

From the cuff came forth the choker and from the choker came forth the enormous pendant. As often happens, I kept seeing other pieces that could be born from the same new pattern. Though this one was so reminiscent of something, I kept looking up other tatting on etsy to see if I had in fact seen it before. I never did find anything just like it, only pieces with a similar feel.
I also made this one up with gray rings in the center and I wore that to the Renaissance Faire on Saturday. No, I don't have any pictures. I was far too busy enjoying myself and taking pictures of the children to remember to document the outfit. The weather was perfect and even though the crowds were thick, it was a lovely day.

Speaking of lovely, when I returned home it was to a healthy sale and the news that one of my chokers was on the front page. It had sold apparently rather quickly so the views garnered from the exposure where much smaller than other times, but I will take the sale over the views and hearts.I also got the hand dyed thread from yarnplayer that I was waiting for to make a custom moth bracelet. I'm sure it's well known that I prefer to use size 10 thread. There are a lot of reasons for that, it works up quickly, the size 5 needle is stronger and I am an aggressive tatter and I've used it so long I can actually guess final size as well as the amount of thread needed at the needle end. This is size 20 and while I do use that for earrings and a few other bits, using it meant that there was more guess work on the bracelet to get it the right length. It still turned out quite well and the recipient seemed pleased with the photos. Now what to do with the rest of the pansy thread...hmmm. Not to worry, I am lucky enough this morning to have a sold collar that needs making as well as a few other pieces that need making to be listed again. I will be a busy little bee for a spell and I am pleased as punch about it.

One last thing before I go, if you are a facebook type, I have a small giveaway that is ending sometime today. Turns out I turned my brain off when I made a pair of Victoriana earrings. There is nothing wrong with them except that's not the pattern for the earrings. The chains are longer and have too many picots. Rather than go to the trouble of taking pictures so I can list the variant to sell, I'm just giving them away to someone who leaves a comment on the most recent post. I think that's it for today, we'll talk again tomorrow.

Strike A Pose

Okay, first off how it is not Friday yet? It feels like it's suppose to be Friday and yet here we are on a Thursday. What good is a bloody Thursday anyway? Apparently its good for complaining about, but I digress. I got yet another little treat from my Google alerts yesterday, there was a nice little post about me on Craft Gossip's jewelry page which is new for me. I have of course graced the needlework page repeatedly with various free patterns and tutorials, but the jewelry mention was quite pleasantly unexpected. Thanks to Stacie Hooder for the nice write up, I really appreciate it!

I did get photos done of the gray and black mask as well. I opted for modeled ones since someone I know is creeped out my mannequin heads...she knows who she is. I do admit they look better worn, but sometimes I am just feeling too lazy to get dolled up and make faces at the camera. I mean there is a good reason I never had a modeling career, okay many good reasons. I shudder at the thought of someone walking by and looking in the window as I pose like this. Sure folks say the pictures turn out okay, but I still feel like a bit of a fool taking them.
I slacked off for most of the remains of the day, but I did do a little custom work. I was asked if the new moths could be made onto a lapel pin so that the original commissioner could get a few more like that, so I tatted a moth to a pin. As I remarked on twitter, it was a bit like an entomology experiment and thankfully a relatively successful one. I'll be working on adjusting the pattern to a smaller size today as well as putting more moths on sticks. I'm also still mulling over another mask pattern though honestly I hope the shop picks up soon so I won't have time to work on more. Well more so I have actual sales, but six of one right?

One last bit for today that could have been posted yesterday had it happened then. Apparently I made the front page of etsy with this treasury at 1 am est. I was of course fast asleep and I didn't even get the usual instant link at facebook so if it hadn't been for the handful of congratulatory messages I received at etsy I would not have known at all. Lucky for me craftcult takes screenshot so I can pretend I saw it and this is what it looked like.Crossing my fingers that this wasn't the last of the season as I have been getting a crap load of 'you're in my treasury' messages from sellers as they put together all the Halloween lists. Again not a huge boon to sales or anything, but even in the middle of my night I received more than 60 new heart or people favoriting my shop. So thanks etsy for the bit of love...keep it up!

TotusMel's Tatting, Bragging Blog

Well the weekend was eventful. After I wrote on Friday I snagged another front page spot. This time however, I was awake and able to enjoy the event. I spent over an hour answering convos and watching those views and hearts go up, up, up and I was even graced with a few great sales. Then I went into a bit of a etsy coma.

Sunday my family took a trip to the Northern California Ren Faire. We've been going for quite a few years now and we take my husbands parents as they enjoy the unparalleled people watching available. I spoiled myself and the girls a bit and brought home a few trinkets and a mealworm. Yes, a mealworm. After a visit to pet a dragon, or rather lizards, snakes and turtles, my daughter the budding entomologist was gifted a mealworm which she insisted we keep and raise until it becomes a beetle. It is currently living in a water bottle until more suitable accommodations can be acquired.

After the long day, we retired early and I managed to miss yet another front page feature. I woke this morning to more convos and requests and Daniel of Catherinetterings sent me a screen shot of the feature which was the lovely treasury by Insectus.

This one featured was curated and featured some of my SteamTeam friends as well as A topsyturvydesigns hat whose picture also includes one of my chokers. So it's like being on there twice, kinda.

It's been a banner week for me and I actually feel a little guilty that I've been granted such a streak of luck. I still see so many threads on the forums of people doing so poorly in the sagging economy. While I have no delusions that I will continue my current sales trend once Halloween has past, I still feel like I've reached a good point of saturation that will hopefully continue.

Tomorrow, I have a new mask to show you and I promise to stop bragging.

What A Nice Morning

I woke to a pleasant surprise this morning. I apparently got on the front page in the middle of the night. This is the second time in a row that I have been on the front page and missed it entirely. At first I was terribly put out that I didn't get to see it, but then I realized that the timing of the event exposed me to a whole other side of the planet. I received several messages from folk I didn't recognize at all probably because I'm asleep when they are online.

I wish I could show you a picture of my front page, but I can't find one. It was the same tatted mask that got featured in the etsy finds email so its views are ridiculously high and it has an insane amount of hearts (211 at last count). Imagine if all those people actually wanted to buy the mask. Of course my fingers would fall off if I tried to make that many, but still.

The other side effect of my front page in the middle of the night appears to be treasury saturation. I've been in a few treasuries at a time and then I'll be absent entirely for weeks, but this morning as I was trying to discover where my front page originated I stumbled upon not just a couple of new treasuries, but seven! Seriously seven treasuries all featuring my pieces. This knocked my on my arse. I'm just really humbled and grateful for all the attention and by way of thanks here are the curators of those treasuries:

Monarchdancer.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12873

insectus.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12893

calloohcallay.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12971

susidjewelry.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12697

homecreations.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12674

ImNotYourGranny.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12702

mistflowerstudio.etsy.com - http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=12665

Check them out, they all did an amazing job and deserve a little love for their time!

UPDATE:
I found a picture of the front page!

Front Page

There are two coveted spots on the front page of etsy. One of those is the featured seller spot which runs for a few days and could definitely be considered your big break. While I have not completely given up hope that I will one day grace that spot, I'm not holding my breath. The other spot is in one of the many front page treasuries that cycle throughout the day. Now these used to last a lot longer, but recently they seem to change every hour or so. Yesterday I was lucky enough to grace the front page with my Ladies Who Lunch choker for just about an hour. In that space I received the same number of views I usually get in a week as well as 50 new hearts for my store. This is made even more wonderful by being the second time this month that one of my pieces has made it to the front page. I'm feeling pretty good this morning even though experience has taught me that front page glory fades with the images removal.

I also wanted to vent about some frustrations today. I'm a stay at home mom and anyone who has spent any length of time home alone with kids knows that after a while you have nothing to talk about but kids. This can take it's toll on the few adult relationships that you've managed to maintain. After I found etsy I admittedly went a little overboard with my new found community. I was talking to grownups about things I enjoyed and I may have over mentioned etsy to my husband. Okay, so it was every other word out of my mouth.

Over the last couple of years my devotion to etsy has waxed and waned countless times. Every time I reached the etsy saturation point, my husband reaches a point of extreme intolerance to the word etsy. I can't blame him really, but I simply have nothing else to talk about besides the kids. I often miss working outside the home just because I miss the topics of conversation I could bring up when I was exposed to the public all day long. I love staying home with the kids, I love tatting and I love the handmade community. I wouldn't want to give any of that up, but I struggle with sharing the days events when I know that they will fall on annoyed ears. I imgine it would be the same if instead of etsy, I watched soap operas all day or joined a book club or something. Sometimes I wonder if my stories would be better received if this was a legitimate job, not a mildly successful hobby. I'm sure there is a solution to my woes, but I haven't found a good one yet. The blog takes the edge off, but hasn't solved the problem. Oh well, it could be much worse, right?