Hmmm

Unfortunately all I have to show you this morning is my recent progress on the TIAS. We're up to day 13 now and I still haven't a clue. The recent piece kind of reminds me of an opossum head, but I'm fairly certain I'm nowhere near the mark. This was all the tatting I managed during the day.

I tried to get some schooling done in the morning, but the kid's online school site was down. Then the day got hard to manage. The kids went off with their grandparents for a spell while I attended the first of two doctor's appointments for the husband. Then the kids came back, but not for long enough for me to settle and get anything done before we were all off again. They with their grandma again and me to the second appointment.

Most of the day was spent waiting in places other than home meaning nothing of consequence could get done. So today it's back to regular schooling and I'm hoping to get some cleaning done before our weekend guests arrive. I generally let the house fall into a state of functional clutter when the holidays are over and I'm not expecting to host any more dinners or get togethers. This means the house really needs a good cleaning.

Still no new sales in the shop, but I did get a rather unexpected phone call regarding ordering some pieces. I say unexpected because my phone number is not attached to my business at all and it is a bit uncomfortable to be tracked down in that way. I'm honestly uncertain how to respond as the request was to buy away from Etsy and I generally do not do that save for very occasionally, locally partly because of all the protections Etsy affords me regarding payment and shopping. Plus I really prefer interacting with strangers through email, me and the phone are not really friends. Yeah, the whole thing just has me very uncomfortable and I have no idea what I'm going to do about it.

So to recap, today will be schooling and cleaning and if I'm very lucky I'll sit down and tat something that will relax me. I really do need to unwind now.

New and Lost

Well I worked on it all morning and I won't go into how many different iterations of chain and bead combos I played with, but I finished the new choker. If it wasn't for this old mannequin that my brother "loaned" me years ago, making the chains on theses sort of piece would be nearly impossible. The problem is always making them lay well on a person, so if I make the chains flat on the table, they always fail at draping, at least on the first try. Of course you probably don't care one bit about all that nonsense. The point is, the necklace is done and hopefully I'll manage to get it listed some time today. I can already tell I'm going to have pricing issues though. This one was a whole lot of work to make.

Unfortunately I just got a message this morning that a package I sent to the Ukraine at the beginning of the month has yet to arrive. It is the first I've sent to that exact country so I have no precedent for how long it should take. The fear is that it is missing, though since there is no tracking to that country I can't be sure of that either. So the plan will be to wait the full 45 days before I can file an insurance claim and send another if it still hasn't arrived. This means I have to make up some barefoot sandals to have ready just in case. I hate lost packages, but it is the price of relying on other services to do business.

I also got an order last night for a custom pair of ankle corsets, so it looks like I'll be making one, then the other. That should make for a busy couple of days at least. I'm going to go ahead and cross my fingers that the 'lost' package arrives though, because that would just be better for everyone.

Sigh

While I had a fine family weekend with the usual errands and visiting, I also had to accept the harsh truth that as far as business goes, this year is the worst ever. No, now I'm not being dramatic, I made the mistake of checking the stats against the last few years and this December has already done only a quarter of the sales I did in the same time last year and down even further from the year before. I suppose I could jump on the bandwagon and just blame changes at Etsy for the downturn, but I know it's always much more complex than that. So I apologize in advance as I'm likely to use this sounding board to evaluate what to do about all this.

I know you'd much rather come here to see what I'm tatting and not hear me complain about selling it, but the two are inextricably connected. I can't make new pieces if I haven't sold older ones and made money enough to justify spending more on thread and other supplies. I'm currently making more snowflakes as gifts to round out the paltry ones we've been able to buy, but after that I'm relying on the shop to give me projects to do. I can't say I've seriously contemplated shutting down, but I have wondered how much worse it will have to get before I do have those thoughts. So, again my apologies for my 'woe is me' attitude that may continue for a while.

I will try to keep busy and make things as I can't really live with idle hands anyway. I have plenty of other tasks with the children and schooling at least for the next two weeks. I am of course hoping that I am being premature and everything will pick right up, but after a weekend with no sales in December it doesn't seem very likely. So let me leave you with cats attempting to either eat one another's heads or clean each other, I can never tell which, and hope for the best. Oh, and if you want to shop to help or share with friends who do, you can sill use the code, 'FBFreeship' at checkout for free shipping.

One Forward, One Back

Well yesterday's issue turned out about as good as can be expected, though I didn't think it was going to for sometime. When the customer first responded they acknowledged that they must have missed the sizing, but didn't want to incur the shipping costs to return for an exchange or refund, so I feared that neutral was mine to keep. Then the oddest thing happened, they initiated the process to change the feedback and suddenly all my complaining was for nothing. Don't get me wrong, I still wish that I have been contacted before the feedback was left and I still wish more people would read descriptions more carefully, but that's more of a general complaint anyway. Another side effect of complaining out loud was the wonderful commiseration with others who'd had similar or in most cases worse experiences and the other nice things they felt compelled to share, so all's well that ends well.

I also got my rear in gear, decided that the new motif looked most interesting on it side and listed it as a necklace. Hanging from a corner it did resemble a lot of other motifs, not exactly of course, but the squared version I found to be more unique. I might do up the two color version as a choose your own colors listing, but I'll need to make up a few more examples before I do so. I don't have any big plans today, so there's a real possibility that it will get done.

Now, one more bout of complaining. I know you're getting sick of it, but remember I mentioned something that got to me over the weekend, well it came back this morning, so I must get it out of my system.

Even before I started to share some patterns, people would message me asking for patterns. Now sometimes people are very polite when they ask and I can tell they only hoped I would acquiesce, not assumed I would. Every once in a while they were in luck as I did have that pattern written up and didn't mind sharing. More often lately though I get requests all the time that run a little like this: 'Can you email me the pattern for this piece?' Yep, that will be the whole of the message, just GIVE ME. No greeting, no closing, heck sometimes there is not even a name except in the email address.

This is unacceptable. Have we really gotten so uncivilized that we can't write a proper letter especially when asking for something that one has no claim to. They barely ask and it seems they think they are entitled to have their request granted. Look, I love that I can sometimes share or sell a few patterns. I love that people are inspired by my work, that I have in any way helped people to learn tatting, but giving the world some, does not entitle it to all. So, I don't mind if you ask for a pattern that you really want to make, I have on more than one occasion actually had one written up to share, but don't go assuming since most of the ones I want to share are already out there and please I beg of you put some thought into requesting something of anyone you don't personally know. Do not let the art of polite correspondence completely whither and die because of the ease of the Internet.

I'm going to go make some lace now that that is all out of my system. I hope that's the last of my whining for a spell. I know it can be irksome when I get like this and I don't really want to annoy anyone out there. I do, however, always feel much better after I vent, so thanks for putting up with it.

Neutral

I have just woken up to the second worst feedback in my shop one can receive, the neutral. Well, that put me in a mood. I've gotten one before when a package was shipped overseas and went through customs with one fewer piece that it started. I was blameless, but I also cannot blame them for the feedback as they never got that piece. This one is a bit more annoying as I feel it is unfounded. I suppose I should just be glad it wasn't a negative since those affect ones feedback rating and I have tried so hard never to get one of those. The feedback states that the bracelet was too small because they wear a 7" bracelet, which would be a valid complaint except that the listing clearly describes the bracelet as being 6", so it was never going to fit...if they had read the fairly short description.

I often remake my pieces to fit custom sizes, this one however is one made of motifs and those can only really change by adding or subtracting one, so I couldn't even offer to make it a better size for them. I offered an exchange or refund this morning, but I do so wish people would contact the seller before leaving feedback for something that would almost certainly be fixed had it been brought to ones attention. I also wish that it were possible to reply directly to feedback like this, but you can't and I've made my effort, so it that neutral doesn't disappear, I at least hope that some more people will actually leave feedback for their purchases to bury it amongst them, so few people do. So if you're reading this and you bought something you like from me, a piece or a pattern, over the last 6 months, please go leave your feedback. Of course if you didn't like it, you don't need to bother, but you could have messaged me and I would have made it better!

Well now that that is out of my system, yesterday was a fairly boring, quiet day. I worked on remaking and then playing with the new motif just a bit because of some kind comments here. I tried it with two colors just to see how it would play. I'm also now thinking it would look cute hanging from the corners as a square as well as a diamond. I don't know when I'll make a decision and get it listed though...starting the day annoyed does not bode well for my productivity.

I will try to get back to work and get the motif listed as well as some more pieces remade, but I will likely dwell on the mornings issue until I get some sort of response from the customer. I let things bother me far more than I let on, but I can usually let it go once I have done all that I can, eventually anyway.

Sorry About The Rant

I'm running a bit late this morning because I'm a horrible, selfish person. Okay, perhaps I'm being a bit too hard on myself. I felt the need to send a 'please don't sell things made with my patterns' message again. I hate doing it and so I write, delete, write again, ponder, realize that I need to be firm or I'll regret later as more people assume it must be okay if I let that person do it and then I send it immediately wondering if I really should have and now I'm terrified of the response. Seriously it's such a little thing really and it makes me a wreck.

Aside from my general lack of skill in the matter and the time I just don't have, one of the biggest reasons I can't see myself doing a pattern book anytime soon is not having any real control over who would make and sell the pieces. Sure that might not matter one day when my etsy shop isn't my livelihood, but right now that scares me. I'd go crazy if I tried to police that, so if I ever do a book it would have to be things I was no longer making. I do not want to become the crazy lady that gets overheated when someone just makes and posts a picture of something I designed, but I do need to hold the line I drew in the sand and wrote in the patterns, right? It's not too much to ask is it? Gah, I feel like an awful person.

Moving on then. I spent most of yesterday working on the order I have in queue. I'll still be working on it most of today and if I bite the bullet and start remaking the largest piece I sold, I'll be at it for a few days at least. I'm still saving that one until the end though, it's a complicated one with crystals and embroidery at the end, my demi gloves. I fear I should get around to it late today meaning I'll have my head down and ignore much of the world around me while I work. Luckily I do have a prototype on hand so I have something solid to work from, but it's one of my more complicated builds and it's been two years since I made them. I guess I again have my days work cut out for me...for a while.

Question

I am absolutely knocking on wood as I write this, but I am feeling much better this morning, much better. I can feel a few remnants of the virus lurking about, but that seems to be about it. I was feeling mostly better yesterday, but still tired so I engaged in some serious stalling between projects throughout the day.

First, I did finally assemble the crystal necklace I've been working on remaking. You've probably seen it before, but because I was asked, here it is again. I failed, last time I made it to take a good photograph of it laying flat so assembling it was a bit of a chore than it should have been. The front was simple, but I couldn't remember the configuration around the sides and I had no pictures to help. I spent way more time than was necessary figuring out where all the motifs wanted to live. In the end I got it and I still haven't taken that laid flat picture. Remind me to do that today.

Once that was finished I had another custom length bracelet to make for an order I got in the morning. It was a simple piece so that was done fairly quickly and then while attempting to stall, I instead did my end of year etsy numbers. This is the point where I remind anyone out there casually thinking that selling your handmade wares online would be fun that while it can be satisfying, it is also a royal pain. This was just the first pass at the books in preparation for tax time. I still have receipts to gather and record as well as several online account records to comb through. Thankfully I don't have to do it all at once. I'll dole it out slowly over the next few months so I won't fly into an accounting driven rage and slaughter the innocent in my path. I'm a much calmer artisan than I am a businesswoman.

I do have a question to pose to you this morning as well. I have promised to do a tutorial on tatting to a jewelry base and that will be something I put up for free on Instructables, when I get it started anyway...hopefully soon. I also want to get a couple more patterns up for sale in my etsy shop, but I'm not sure which ones to do. I know I don't want to do any ankle corsets, but other than that I'm not sure what to go with, probably something small though. So if you have any opinions or requests, please let me know and I'll use the weekend to sort out what to offer. No promises of course, but I am at a loss so any direction would be helpful. I thank you in advance for your help and hopefully with the sickness at bay it will be a productive weekend as well.

Gift

Nothing throws a day like a morning meeting. I tried to start schooling early enough to mitigate the effect, but it was to no avail. Once we were home and I tried to start classes again I was met with grumpy kid. Grumpy kid always turns me into ogre mom and the rest of her classes were a mighty chore which put me in a mood.

When I sat down to get back to tatting my mood shifted from annoyed to slightly depressed over the state of my etsy shop. Yes, again. It's November and I should be busy, but I'm not. I expressed that sentiment and I tried to think of some way to be proactive about it. All I could come up with was to make these and offer one as a free gift with the next three orders I got. I used the only hand dyed threads I had on hand. To be honest I also made them to keep my hands moving and the pretty colors have a calming effect as they swirl into the design. The two on the left are from Jess and the purple one is from Yarnplayer. Unfortunately the effort did not have an effect, at least not yet. All three roses are waiting to be gifted.

So that leaves me with no real tatting tasks unless I want to get back to the art project. I could of course tackle more cleaning, but I'd rather be tatting and filling orders and busily remaking sold things. I'd rather get my own holiday shopping knocked out, but with the slow sales that's unadvised as well. I think I'm due for the Universe to bring some joy. I'm going to attempt some positive thinking and I'm going to make things to focus my energy and I'm going to avoid cleaning too much because that just makes me tired. So here's to a surprisingly good day ahead...I hope.

Blarg

I was having such a good morning, I got to sleep all the way until my alarm, the election is over and won't be dragging on for weeks and then I was distracted by a lost package to Lithuania. Now I knew it was hadn't arrive a while ago, but the recipient was still looking for it on her end. Yesterday she said they couldn't find it, but they'd know for sure in a day or so, so I offered to send another piece though I'm honestly worried about the same thing happening. This morning I get a message saying it can't be found since it wasn't sent in a method requiring signature so could I send the replacement that way. I never do that because on a regular first class shipment it raises the cost about $16 and I don't expect anyone to pay that for shipping unless the item is particularly expensive a $30 piece really doesn't rate, right? The customer who is also a seller says she adds that to her shipments, so my guess is the service is much cheaper coming into the U.S. Anyway the whole business has put me in a sour mood.

On a lighter and more tatting related note, I made another one of a kind piece yesterday. I listed the red piece yesterday morning and it sold immediately to a facebook fan who had expressed in interest in it the day before. So I thought I'd see if I had enough bits to make something else in the same family and I did. This time I used dark purple Lizbeth and did a little more tatting around the brass bits. This one was pretty well received too, so I'm hoping it flies off today when I list it as well, though it would be pretty weird to have that happen twice in a row.

Also when I posted this image, it was suggested by someone that it would look good in a dark green. Well, I just happen to have this same stone in green as well, so I'll be digging though the bits once again hoping to find something to make up another. I am running out of matching pieces though, so the green will likely be the last one unless I order some of these on purpose and not in a grab bag. Well, here's hoping today picks up from here.

Really?

Man, I cannot catch a break this week. I was all ready to be slightly productive yesterday when I read through my emails to discover material reclamation messages regarding the kids school stuff that we only recently received. I was further confused when attempting to log into the school site and got the message that my account was no longer active. This led to an early morning phone call to one place where I was informed that their records show the kids as withdrawn and I'd need to call the school to find out what happened when they opened in two hours. What the what? So I had to wait those hours to call the school enrollment people and when I did and they said they'd fix it, I still had to wait hours to find out it was in fact fixed.

So even if I had been able to be productive despite the recent cat events, it was thwarted. Instead I cleaned as I'm wont to do when I'm stressed, annoyed or angry. I'm told this could be a healthy way to deal with those emotions with the side effect of getting the cleaning done fast. Of course those people have never been in my way when I was cleaning.

Once that drama was fixed up I was able to relax and work on doing a little remaking for the shop and I actually felt fairly productive the rest of the day even if it wasn't anything significant to share. I was also quite touched that so many of you left comments about yesterday's sad news and so many more of you sent emails. It's crazy how many people have a Boo in their lives and I appreciate all the support.

I was hoping to say that today would be better, but I woke up to a message on etsy letting me know that a package I sent to Germany in May never arrived. Of course it didn't. To make matters worse it was a larger piece, one that I never remade either. So the options given to the customer were a refund, which is always painful or to wait until I order more beetle wing cases and remake the piece to send a replacement, probably more painful. On one hand it's always a bummer to send back money, on the other at least I wouldn't have to worry about another package going missing past the borders. Unfortunately to track packages overseas requires much costlier postage than most people are comfortable with. Luckily these occurances are fairly few. Too bad it didn't happen with a small pendant or something more easily replaceable or refunded.

So today I'll be not so patiently waiting to hear the customers preference thankful that they seem reasonable so far and hopefully they continue to be. Otherwise I will be again fairly useless while my brain is playing out worse case scenarios. It's only Wednesday and I think I want a do over on the whole week. Look Universe, I'd love a little reversal of fortune for the rest of the week. Nothing fancy, just a nice change of pace from sad, uncomfortable and disappointing if you will. That would be great, thanks.

Sorry For The Lecture.

More often than I would like I seem to be starting blog posts with some version of, I'm tired. Both Winter and Spring seem to do this to me. Winter for retail reasons and Spring for family and allergy reasons. Saturday ended up being two outdoor parties in a row as after ours, our neighbor, whose youngest was turning two, had one as well. So the day went: clean, wrangle children, presents and cake, clean and watch someone else do the same thing all on my feet. Yikes.

Sunday was more cleaning, candy and I baked my first solo ham. It was completed on time and it tasted good which was quite a relief. Otherwise though it was more child wrangling, and cleaning just this time with ham and pie. Still this morning I have dishes to put up and more dishes to clean. We had thought about starting our vacation adventuring today, but we will more likely use the day for recovery.

Normally I'd really complain about the drought in the shop immediately following the pendant deal, but I'm kind of glad for it given all the other things I was up to. I could do without the steady stream of custom request messages that have all, without fail, ended up with a resounding, never mind though. I'm starting to think I should stop answering them at all.  Not to mention a recent trend of people asking if it's okay to sell pieces they made after copying my designs directly or being 'inspired' by them. Don't get me wrong I'm still glad people are using my work to help them learn how to tat and I appreciate the asking, I just wish the thought would cross a few less peoples minds. Aside from my personal opinion about how it might affect me though, there is one point I'd like to make that should make more sense to those creators.

When you start an artistic endeavor with the intent to sell your work it is never wise to do so emulating another more established artist. It just just doesn't make good business sense. You will not have an identity of your own, something to set you apart from the pack. You will blend in. Even worse is that even if you have not copied directly, your work will likely be seen as derivative if not a complete rip off. It may seem like a good idea to sell the same sort of things that sell well for someone else, but it rarely works that way. I've seen people try to do that and undercut the prices of the original artist, but they're just selling themselves and the artist they supposedly admire short and they are training their customers to want things cheap. Their retail dreams are generally short lived.

Please understand, I have no desire to discourage people from tatting, nor selling their work. I just want people to understand the flaw in coming at it from this direction. The best advice I can give someone who wants to turn this hobby into something more, is to find your own identity and style, design your own pieces and find your own target audience. Being original is always better. Make others regret that they didn't some up with your idea first. These are the things that make it all worth the effort and believe me it is a lot of effort. Okay, the lecture is over, let the week begin.

Friday

Oh, Friday, this has been one of those weeks where I feared you would never arrive and now that you're here I think, what happened to the week? Yesterday was another with my nose to the grindstone. I think that I mentioned that we had advanced my daughter in a few of her courses. Well, my goal was to then finish the new courses within this school year. This means a lot more material to cover than a normal class load for both her and me and I think it's finally getting to me. Seriously, her science class is starting to hurt my head. Mass is defined as a quantitative measure of an object's resistance to the change of its speed. At 8 she's supposed to get that? I had to read it a few times before it sank in for me. My excuse is, it's been like almost two decades since I studied any science, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make here. I'm saying that I'm a bit tired.

I only managed to get one of the custom order pieces made yesterday between schooling and the book fair in the afternoon. Today, I must finish the other because I have a third that just came in late last night. It was another of those ones that was requested a week or so ago and they just picked it up. On a similar note, here's another rant for you. When you ask someone a question regarding the timing of creating and/or shipping a piece and they answer you with details, please understand that the answer applies only to now. Or if you ask if I can ship something today, I say yes if you buy now and then you buy two or three hours later, the answer no longer applies. So far I've not run into any protest when that was revealed when orders were actually made, but it's just another thing that bugs me. I really need to be more vague when answering questions.

So, more making today and again if I manage to finish, I've got remaking to do. I still have that new doodle piece to rework as well, so if I need a break from the sweatshop, I might play with that over the weekend. It's been too long since I listed something truly new. I hope to have a picture filled week for you next week just because all this text has got to be a bore. If nothing else a cat parade. See you all then.

I cleaned

Well I was half right about how yesterday would play and the rest was full of those random events which changed the direction of the day. Fairy early in the day I got  an order for two pieces that will need to be made which means all that remaking is again on the back burner. Rather than plant that grape vine I wanted to, I was finally led to the last straw that made me want to clean the damn house. You are likely aware that I have far too many cats. The one mitigating factor that makes this a liveable situation is that I have a fairly decent sized house for them to sprawl out in. This does not apparently matter as shedding season begins though. In fact the larger house just means more surfaces for the fur to coat. I just couldn't take the fur anymore and spent most of the day cleaning floors. What's sad is there are still plenty of rooms left to clean and I am far too sick of cleaning to get to them now.

Aside from the order that needs making I had one other customer conversation which inspired me to talk about the one thing I tend to dread from customers, the custom design job. Now, back when I first started selling my wares, I was desperate for sales. So much so that I would accept jobs I didn't really want to do and usually ended up charging far too little for the extra amount of work as well. While it could be said that I am still desperate for customers on occasion, experience has taught me when it's a good thing to say no. Custom orders that consist of color changes, embellishment changes, length and even some small substitutions or additions to designs are all fine and dandy. The issue arises when someone wants you to design something new or change an existing design in a significant way. See these kind of requests are the kind of thing I would rather get as suggestions. What's the difference? Well, if someone suggests that it might be nice if a design was one way or another, then if I agree when I have time, I design something for the shop that might sell to others as well. If someone buys a listing and wants some "new" design, I have to guess what the new, currently non existent design might cost, then I have to rush to design it since I'm working on their dime. Since I'm stressed I'll probably take longer designing with more mistakes and the result will be a piece only that customer will ever see that they will have likely paid way too little for leaving me annoyed and burnt out. This is why I don't design on demand, rant complete.

So I have that order to make and if by some miracle I finish that, I've still got pieces in the queue to remake. We've also got a school book fair to attend later today and there is always the schooling. Yes, I am already tired just thinking about it, but I still have to do it all.

Feast or Famine

Well, I had all that stuff to share with you yesterday and nobody said boo about it, so this is what you get, a boring post. I wish I could say that I planned it as punishment, but yesterday turned into a busy, but otherwise uninteresting day. Ever since Christmas I've been dealing with a feast or famine cycle of sales. First a handful of sales then generally a week of nothing, but the wind blowing. The cycle is stressful to say the least and it mucks with my need to structure my days. When sales are slow, but steady, the plan before me is constant and thus comfortable. When the cycle begins, which is does every year to varying degrees, I find myself stressed one minute due to lack of sales and stressed the next faced with a bout of overwhelming work. I'm not writing this to tell you I've found a solution, just sharing, because if I don't vent here, my husband hears it and he can only take so much.

As you might have guessed I recently came out of a famine period into a particularly sudden feast time. I already had a couple of pieces I need to remake, but yesterday added a few more. The reason this one was more stressful is the pieces that were sold. Many things I make, I sell often and thus have the patterns committed to memory, these were not on that list. The pieces that sold were ones that combined a lot of jewelry work after tatting and I never write down the information for that stuff, I just use one piece to make a copy and then send off the first one. This plan works fine when there's just one of them, but two in one day when I'm already busy, oye. I managed to get done what I needed to in order to send off the pieces this morning with confidence, but I've got another busy remaking day in front of me. Of course that means another picture-less, boring post ahead tomorrow. Sorry, but that's the way the feast or famine cycle works.

10,000

This is the start of what promises to be an utterly exhausting week. No, I didn't get some amazing order over the weekend. It is going to be exhausting because the husband is off to a conference for most of the week. He left yesterday morning. This leaves me alone with the kids which you might think isn't all that different from normal being that I'm a stay at home mom, but you'd be wrong. Those few hours at the end and beginning of the day provide necessary support and occasional relief. So as I said...it's going to be an exhausting week.

I was going to start today with a blog giveaway, but honestly I just wasn't prepared to set it up for today, see the first paragraph. Why was I going to a giveaway in the first place? Well, here it is, the numbers I'd been waiting for. 10,000 admirers for the shop. It happened on Friday afternoon, but I thought it would be wise to sit on a celebration for at least a few days as these numbers fluctuate a lot. I try not to watch them too much really, but this was a particularly big one so it deserved a little attention. Of course now that I'm thinking about it, my store anniversary and blog anniversaries are just around the corner too. Maybe it would be wise just to save all the hoopla for then. You know wrap it all into one nice self congratulatory event to save you all from hearing me pat myself on the back too often. I guess I'll think on it. Any opinions on the subject would be greatly appreciated too.

That list of things that need remaking is not getting any shorter. Well, I suppose that it is, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I also made one new Scrolling necklace, but haven't gotten pictures to list it at all. I went with forest green and copper seed beads this time. I also did get one smaller custom order over the weekend. It's actually the first sale of my tatted tiara. It gets lots of views, but no sales until now. The one I'm making is white with pink...it's for a wedding. That should be finished and off today. That's about it for me. I'll be trying to keep my sanity intact while I work on getting photos for that necklace and getting more things tatted to relist. Here's some kitties to calm us all before the week really begins.

Tax

All the custom orders and the bulk order are off on their way to a new home and after all my other morning tasks, I got back to the list of things that need remaking. It was a nice calm, uneventful day until I got the last forms I needed in order to do our taxes. Then...I did our taxes. It's my own fault really, I started doing them myself when I was 18 and when we got married I just kept right on doing them. Each year they've gotten more complex, kids, investments, a house and now a business.  I know I already whined when I put together all my business stuff in preparation for this, but that was when I thought those last forms were coming...and they took almost a month to arrive instead. So you get a fresh round of whining where I wish I wasn't such an unorganized control freak. Of course there's no changing me now and it's almost over for the year anyway and then I'll get back to normal.

I did actually make up a nice list of the pieces that need remaking so I should be able to stay on task today. I am still trying to decide which colors I should use to make up new scrolling necklaces to replace the one off sold ones. I thought about using the same colors, but thought it might be nice to change it up a bit. I guess I'll be digging through the new bits for something to inspire me. Other than all this remaking I have no projects on the horizon so I might get some Spring cleaning done...or not. That could just be crazy talk and since I can't think of another thing to share I guess I'll just get off to it then. Have a great weekend all.

Numbers

Somebody shoot me now...I worked on the books yesterday. I started off the day with schooling as usual, but when I was done, I thought, hey, I'll get started on some of this number stuff. Three hours later I looked up and realized I'd just sucked half the day away. So, since the husband had the day off we all went out for lunch and ran a couple of errands. Then we decided to play a little catch up with out dvr allowing me to tat a little, but just some remaking. It was nice.

Then what stupid thing did I do? Yes, I went back to the books. Let me just say to any of you out there toying with the idea of turning your beloved hobby into a business, make sure it's really worth it. I am a lousy book keeper and that means at least once a year I want to ask people to shoot me. Sure, I keep all my records in a nice searchable file. Sure, I keep all my supply receipts in order and easy to find. I know where to download all the various information and compile it into a usable document. I even know what to do with the information when that's done.  I derive no joy from it though and even though I know I should do it all year long to make the task easier each time I just can't bring myself to suffer this every single month. Instead I suffer for a week or two each year...welcome to the suffering.

So, as you have guessed I am no further with the new piece and today I have a meeting with the home school teacher as well as lunch plans so I don't know what I'll manage to get to today. If I'm being completely honest, there is still more I need to do with the books too. This year PayPal sent out a new form detailing the payments one received and that gets sent to the IRS as well, so I have to comb through all my transactions to find all the times I used this phrase, 'Oh, just paypal me the money'. Then I have to add those to my etsy data to make sure all the numbers match. Sorry, I didn't mean to go off on the number stuff again. I do hope to get back to some tatting today. I need it for my sanity.

That's That Then

I have a confession. I've been holding onto a bit of a lie for quite sometime and now that it's been rectified, I feel the need to share. I know, I'm building this up a bit too much, really it's not a big deal. When I first started selling on etsy, I was simply ignorant. After a while I just started ignoring the details sticking to my, 'it's a hobby' excuse, but things have been snowballing for a while now and it needed to be taken care of. That's right, I am now legit. Business license is in hand and complete terror over future tax implications has set in.

It all came to the front as I prepared for the Maker Faire. I felt that if I was going to go out in public for the first time and vend, I needed to be above board. I had been reading threads on etsy for gosh...years about other people and their levels of similar denial. It seemed like such an official step meant for "real" business, not little old me and my tatting needles, but a letter from the city finally pushed me over to the planning department. I had meant to wait until we had purchased and moved into a home, but since we are still waiting to hear back from bank number two that didn't happen. Now, don't think I was flying entirely under the radar. I paid taxes on every cent I made, I just claimed it as hobby income. I do have a healthy fear if the IRS after all.

So that was my day, waiting in lines and coming out an official small business owner...weird, uncomfortable and slightly terrified, but official. I really can't believe how long I stalled on taking this step, but I never wanted to own a business, I just wanted to tat my lace and not get a job outside the home. I do have several more pieces to get listed in the store that had been made for the Maker Faire. I'll get some more up today and then save a batch for after I return home. I'll definitely be writing on Monday, but then the blog will go quiet. I may try to write from the road, but I imagine it'll be spotty. My other blog, the Wunderkammer, will go quiet for the entire week unless someone want to keep it going for me during my absence. Though I confess I really have no idea how that would work. Alright, that's it then.

Why Etsy Does It

Let me start off today by pointing out that I have no business education or experience beyond a stint in retail management. I also have no 'in' with Etsy, real or imagined. Everything that follows is pure conjecture based on simple observation.

Now a little background, yesterday Etsy implemented a few changes. The most obvious of which was a front page face lift which had the temporary effect of a gift guide taking up the entire right side of the screen. While this glitch went away with a simple refresh and was in reality a small two picture box in the top corner it caused quite an uproar in the massive chat room that is twitter. Folks who have been vocal about their dislike of gift guides on the site were livid and the change just enhanced their argument.

Now for my analysis. First of all Etsy sellers, the front page, yeah, it's not there for you. Nope, not even a little bit. The front page is the face of Etsy the company, it is all about the buyers. It is there to set the bait for them, to entice them to shop. That is it's only purpose and as such it is in the best interest of the company to make that face pretty, interesting and above all to make people want to shop there. The shopper doesn't care if a seller is on the cover all the time or if a seller has never been featured, the buyer doesn't care about the perceived inequality of the gift guides, they just want to get a handmade gift for their sister and they want to get it fast and easy.
Etsy uses that front page to create an image that appeals to its core demographic, it uses gift guides to help people start shopping and really clicking through to items. It is the bait, you as a seller must set your own traps.

There is plenty that Etsy does for the seller. It creates a simple and inexpensive way to list items, it maintains forums, chat rooms, hosts tutorials and writes help articles. I know that there are plenty of other things that seller wish they would do like stats and a more efficient search system, but seriously, they appear to working their backsides off and there is just no way to please hundreds of thousands of people. I'm not trying to be an Etsy cheerleader, but I think that there are just so many people who don't 'get' it. Sure, Etsy started as a way for people to make a living selling handmade items and along the way they've had to compromise a bit of that to make a living themselves. Do I miss the old Etsy? Sometimes, but I'm more excited to see them grow and I understand why they have done the things they have, even if I sometimes disagree with them.

Well, I think I got that all out of my system. I've got a whole bunch of pieces to make right now and I'm getting a little nervous about the impending holiday season. The fog has started rolling in here in the Central Valley and even though it's still in the 70's, it won't be long until Christmas overtakes us all. Deep breath...here it comes.

You Want How Much For That?

The Art of Pricing: It's Capitalism Baby!

One of the biggest controversies in the handmade community is, Pricing. There are many reasons this issue is a sticking point for people. We want to make sales, so we want the price to be affordable to our target audience, but we also don't want to under price ourselves for fear of looking cheap. Then there's the most annoying factor, other sellers opinions!

Look, you have every right to price your goods any way you want. This is capitalism, supply and demand, a free market system that allows the consumer to regulate the pricing of goods. I know that as handmade artisans, we feel a sense of community, but that does not mean we need to resort to price fixing just to suit other sellers pricing needs. I know that this is contrary to many other peoples opinions on the subject so feel free to ignore my opinion if you so choose.

When I first started selling tatted jewelry it was woefully under priced. I had no base for comparison as I was the only tatter on Etsy at the time. Eventually I came up with price points that I could live with. I certainly can't wholesale at my prices, but I don't intend to wholesale, so that's a moot point. I used to worry about new folks selling tatted pieces at really low prices, but I realize that the average consumer is not a idiot. They can see the difference in quality, even online and the cheap goods are not really competition for me. The consumer who prefers a $3 tatted doily is never going to buy a $75 tatted scarf and the person who buys my scarf probably thinks that the $3 doily is poor of quality not a great deal.

Here's an example. Widget makers, company A and company B make a comparable product in both function and quality. If A lower their price, B must either lower their price or increase the quality of their product to compete. However, company Z who makes a similar product much cheaper in quality and price is not competition to A or B, because they do not actually share a consumer base. Company Z's customer will never spend the extra money to get a better product, only price determines their purchases. A and B don't pay attention to what Z does because they can't compete with that and continue to make a high quality product, nor should they. They must market themselves to a different demographic and continue making a product high enough in quality to warrant the price they charge.

So if you make high quality baby bibs for $16 a pop, you are not going to get a Dollar store customer to buy them. You do not share a customer base with the Dollar store, so don't complain about their product pricing. Perhaps you should worry more about marketing to your consumer base and less time trying to undermine other peoples business strategies or lack thereof. Etsy is not a co op and although we love to help each other out, we are individuals in a free market system. Not too long ago, I read someones post suggesting that we put a basement price on goods. I was actually shocked, I mean how would we feel if all industries adopted these kinds of strategies. Milk can't cost less than $3, a car can't cost less that $10,000, a pair of earrings can't cost less than $7. Ridiculous. If you can't sell your bibs at $16, the problem does not lie with the Dollar store, it lies with you. Either the price is higher than the market can support or you are simply not advertising to right demographic.

Here's a pricing strategy for you, take your costs, fees, materials, etc., add to that minimum hourly wage or give yourself a bit of a raise, then add $1 and that's your price. If you never plan to wholesale that's all you need to charge. Everything else is optional. My material costs are extremely minimal so my costs are basically labor, so it comes does to how much I feel my time is worth. I would never charge less than it cost to make something and neither should anyone else, but if you make just $1 on your item, you don't have to answer to anyone else. You are not hurting everyone else with your prices. Conversely if you want to make $20 on that same item, you can't complain about the $1 person, you need to make your product worth the extra $20 and market to the audience that pays for quality.

I know that this issue is not going away any time soon, but I think that people need to get some perspective. This is capitalism whether you like it or not!